The Quest for the Master Bolt
by PJOBookWorm
Summary: Annabeth, a demigod at Camp Half Blood, has always wanted a quest. When she meets Percy, son of Poseidon, she finally gets her chance and goes on a quest with him and Grover, a satyr, to retrieve Zeus' lightning bolt! The Lightning Thief in Annabeth's POV
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first fanfiction! I hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians :(**

Chapter 1

I was only seven when I arrived at Camp Half Blood. I arrived with Luke and Grover. After a long fight and tears, Thalia Grace was no longer with us. When I took a look around the camp, everything seemed so new to me: the big space, the green grass, the fields, and the cabins. I was put in cabin six of Athena, goddess of wisdom and my real mom. Luke was placed in cabin eleven. His father was Hermes, messenger for the gods. I should probably explain. I'm Annabeth Chase. I'm a half-blood. What's a half-blood? Also known as demigod, I'm half human, half god.

I had run away from home, unwanted. My father hated me. So did my stepmom. Monsters always came after me because of my power, and my parents yelled at me and blamed me for it. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and left.

It was a miracle I survived. I was by myself, a little kid, running through the woods. I was hiding in a trashcan (hey, don't look at me like that! Trash cans are very... roomy) when I met Luke and Thalia. Luke and Thalia had also run away at that time. Luke was fourteen and Thalia was twelve. They were demigods, like me. They protected me and took me under their wing. Luke even gave me a knife when I tagged along with them.

While we were on the run, we met Grover, a Satyr. Yes, you heard me. A Satyr. Grover's mission was to accompany Thalia to camp and only Thalia, but he chose to accompany Luke and me, too. But things started to get bad. Grover panicked as monsters were sent after Thalia. Thalia was the daughter of Zeus, one of the big three. She was very powerful. Grover ended up leading us into a Cyclops' lair. The Cyclops captured everyone but me. They tried to trick me and lure me in by imitating my father. That didn't work so well. I was so mad to hear my father and stabbed the Cyclops on the foot. I then untied Thalia, and she took control.

But time was running out. The monsters caught up with us. Thalia sacrificed herself to let Luke, Grover, and me go on. She fought the monsters, but was wounded. However, at the last minute, Zeus saved Thalia and turned her into a pine tree.

At Camp Half Blood, I learned how to fight. I learned how to read Greek. I was happy there. At the end of the year, I was presented with a necklace with a bead of a pine tree - Thalia. I had survived a year.

I was ten when I heard of the Great Prophecy. Chiron, a centaur and counselor at camp, told me I was involved in it, along with another person. I really wanted a quest. When someone talked to the Oracle in the attic and was given a quest, they got to leave camp and fulfill the quest. They got to see the outside world, to get the real experience of fighting after all the training. The only way someone could leave with Chiron and Mr. D's (Dionysus, god of wine and sentenced to be the camp's director as a punishment) permission was if they were granted a quest. I was dying to go and see the outside world.

Ever since I heard about being involved in the quest, I wondered who was the person who was "the one" in the Great Prophecy.

* * *

"Silena... What in Hades happened to you?" I glanced at my friend. Usually always composed and pretty, though I did think her makeup was a little overboard, Silena Beauregard, daughter of Aphrodite, stood before me, her hair in knots and her clothes ripped, looking extremely put-off.

Silena grumbled crossly. "Stupid mango. My siblings went absolutely crazy, fighting over it." She pulled out a brush and furiously combed at her hair.

"What?" I asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

"My siblings started fighting over a golden mango. A _golden mango._" Silena flipped her now neat hair over her shoulder and stowed her brush into her purse and dug around it. "Fine, I admit I did fight a bit for it too, but seriously, my siblings are crazy. As far as I know, they're still screaming and clawing at each other. Do I really look that bad?"

I stared at Silena. "No," I answered. No makeup. Not that bad. "Don't put on that makeup!" I said, narrowing my eyes as she pulled out some mascara. "Seriously. Don't."

Silena rolled her eyes. "You can't go on in life running away from makeup, Annabeth. It won't kill you."

I backed away from Silena's purse and shot her a _yeah, right _look. "It might."

"But you'll look so cute," Silena cooed, stretching out her hand and deathly makeup items. "How have you gone twelve years in your life without any makeup?"

I backed away from Silena, eyeing her warily, then mumbled an excuse and shot off towards the Big House, the main administrative building of Cam Half-Blood, Silena sighing behind me.

"Annabeth!" Silena yelled after me. "At least find the Stoll brothers and help me make them pay for the prank."

"Put down the makeup," I ordered, "and then I will."

Silena scrunched her nose, then stuffed everything back into her purse. "Fine. Come on."

So we started on the journey of finding the Stoll brothers. When we finally found them trying to steal stuff from the camp store, Silena marched right up to them and started screaming at them. The Stoll brothers just stood there, grinning, occasionally cracking some witty remarks.

Silena's outraged voice carried back towards me. "Just you wait! Once I've gathered my whole cabin together, just you wait! You won't even know what hit you!"

Seeing this as an appropriate time to leave, I backed away towards my original destination, the Big House. As the Stoll brothers laughed and Silena's screaming grew more and more threatening, I picked up my pace and ran into the Big House. I stayed longer than I planned, talking with Chiron. Night soon fell, but I stayed with Chiron, who was like my father.

I glanced out the window and my eyes widened at what I saw. A boy with messy dark hair was hauling Grover and stumbling toward the house. Chiron followed my gaze. His eyes widened into shock and he went outside to the porch. I followed just as the boy collapsed on the porch with Grover in one hand. What happened? I glanced down at the boy. He looked exhausted in the sense he had just fought a great battle.

He gave one glance up at us, and I drew in my breath when I saw his eyes. They were a shocking sea green. The thing was, it was a familiar color. An important color. The moment I saw his eyes, I knew.

"He's the one. He must be," I told Chiron. He had to be the one in the Great Prophecy. It seemed like the perfect timing, and everything was falling into place. I had seen how bad the weather was, a sign the gods were fighting. I saw the look on Chiron's face: shock, relief, and panic.

"Silence, Annabeth," Chiron commanded. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."

We dragged the boy inside and put him on a bed. I stared at him in wonder.

"Chiron? Who is he?" I asked.

Chiron paused. "He's… Percy… Percy Jackson. Annabeth, please help him. Give him ambrosia and nectar every half hour."

I grudgingly complied. I had a feeling that Chiron knew more about Percy than he was telling me. I took the ambrosia and nectar, food of the gods, from Chiron.

"Thank you, Annabeth. I will go tend to Grover, and after that I must go alert Mr. D," Chiron said. And with that, he left.

I sat down on a chair next to the bed and cracked opened an architecture book. I have always had an interest in architecture. I want to design buildings when I grow up. After a while, I became immersed in the book, looking at the structures, when I heard Percy groan, "Mrs. Dodds… what… wings… ugly… monster… Mr. Brunner… sword… what… am I supposed to kill my math teacher?" I jumped and looked at him. Wait. What? I waited to hear some more, to get a clue of what was going on, but after that, Percy was silent.

Later, I got up and prepared the ambrosia. Right when I was about to feed him, Percy muttered, "summer solstice… thief…"

I stopped. The summer solstice? I had heard talk of the summer solstice and knew something bad might happen. After I went to visit Olympus during the winter solstice, the weather changed, as if the gods were fighting. I heard satyrs talking about something that was stolen, and if not returned by the summer solstice there would be trouble. I asked Chiron about it, but he refused to tell me. I hated not knowing.

I fed Percy some ambrosia. Let me tell you, it was hard! His mouth was barely open, and ambrosia was getting all over the place.

Suddenly, I noticed Percy's eyes were open. Seeing an opportunity, I pounced. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"

Percy looked confused. He mumbled, "I'm sorry. I don't…"

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. I quickly stuffed another spoonful of ambrosia in Percy's mouth. Then, I went to answer the door. I looked back and saw Percy had fallen asleep.

I opened the door and saw Chiron. "Hi, Chiron," I said.

"How has Percy been doing?" Chiron asked.

"Oh, he's deep in sleep. He hasn't woken up," I lied.

Chiron looked concerned, but a little doubtful. "Oh. Annabeth, would you like a break? I don't want you to be stuck here. I will send Argus to watch over Percy."

"Sure," I said. I made my way out of the building and bumped into Argus coming in. Argus was the head of security for camp. I was pretty sure anyone could remember him since he had eyes all over his body.

I said hello to Argus and continued going down to cabin six. Once inside, one of my siblings, Malcolm, asked me, "What's happening with the new kid?"

I shrugged. "He's unconscious."

"I heard he defeated the Minotaur," Malcolm said. "Did he really?" He looked excited.

He defeated the Minotaur? How did I not hear about that? I shrugged again. "Yeah, I guess."

Malcolm looked at me curiously. "You seem quiet. I think you know more than you're telling."

I sighed. "Come on, Malcolm. There's nothing special with this new kid. All he's doing is sleeping and drooling."

Malcolm snorted. "Drooling?"

"Yeah," I said, "drooling. He drools when he sleeps."

Malcolm looked at me weirdly.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing."

"Tell me!" I begged.

Malcolm shook his head. "Are you ready for capture the flag? It's in less than a week." He asked, changing the subject.

I didn't like the fact he changed the subject, but I responded. "Yeah. The Ares cabin is going down!"

Malcolm grinned. "Good. You have a plan?"

"Athena always has a plan," I replied.

* * *

A couple days later, I was at the Big House with Chiron and Mr. D. They were playing their traditional game of pinochle in which Chiron always won. Grover came walking up with Percy.

"Mr. Brunner!" Percy cried.

Mr. Brunner? Percy was looking at Chiron. Then I remembered that Chiron telling me he had gone to teach Percy. Mr. Brunner must have been the name Chiron took on as a disguise.

"Ah, good, Percy," Chiron said. "Now we have four for pinochle."

From the look on Percy's face, I could tell he never heard of pinochle before.

Mr. D turned to Percy grudgingly and said, "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, thanks," Percy said and tried to scoot his chair father away from Mr. D. without anyone noticing. He probably wasn't getting a good vibe from Mr. D. I had that same reaction when I first met him.

"Annabeth?" Chiron called.

I came over to him.

"Percy, this is Annabeth," Chiron said. "She nursed you back to health. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now." Cabin eleven meant that Percy's God parent was unknown.

"Sure, Chiron," I said. I turned to Percy and looked at the Minotaur horn in his hands, then back at him. Whoa, Percy had really slayed the Minotaur? It took someone very powerful to do that. A thought was running through my head. He could be from the Big Three! Maybe Zeus. I shook that thought out of my head. Percy looked at me like he was expecting me to say something, so I said, "You drool when you sleep."

... It dawned on me then what I had just blurted out. Why did I say that? Embarrassed, I quickly sprinted away before he could respond. He probably deserved it. I bet he was thinking I'd compliment him. Oh, no, he had to win my respect first.

I ran to cabin eleven and knocked on the door. Luke opened it, and embarrassingly enough, I blushed. I cleared my throat and said, "Um, hi Luke. There's a new demigod, Percy Jackson, and he isn't claimed yet, so he'll need a spot here."

"No problem!" Luke said and smiled, and I smiled back. I didn't want to admit this to anyone, but I had a… oh, I didn't want to say! It was too awkward! Forget I said anything. "I'll go pick out a spot for him."

I nodded. "I just wanted to make sure you remembered," I said. "I'm going to be waiting for Percy and Chiron outside."

Luke nodded and closed the door. I plopped on a chair outside the cabin and pulled out a Greek architecture book and started to read it.

**Yeah, that's the end of Chapter 1. Please review! Tell me if it needs work or anything! I will update soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry, I accidently posted an edited chapter one over chapter two... I didn't mean to, but thanks to Chaoshime for pointing it out... So... here's chapter two!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own the characters or anything.  
**

Chapter 2

After a while, Percy and Chiron finally arrived. I closed my book and stood up.

"Annabeth, I have a masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?" Chiron requested.

"Yes, sir," I answered.

Chiron gestured toward the cabin and told Percy, "Cabin eleven. Make yourself at home." He wished Percy good luck and left.

Percy stood at the door and seemed frozen. _Um, hello? There's nothing to be afraid of! _I tried to nudge him forward and he tripped. Right, he's real strong. How did he defeat the Minotaur?

"Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven," I said.

Someone asked, "Regular or undetermined?"

Percy had a look of total confusion on his face, so I answered for him. "Undetermined."

Everyone groaned.

"Now, now, campers," Luke said. "That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

That's what I liked about Luke. He was really nice. "This is Luke," I told Percy, trying to make my voice sound normal, though I think it sounded kind of high…

I saw Percy looking at me like I was weird, and I was aware that I was blushing. I quickly cleared my throat. I glared at Percy as to say "Mind your own business" and continued talking. "He's your counselor for now."

"For now?" Percy asked.

I rolled my eyes. Luke answered and explained to him about the whole determined/undetermined thing. Since we didn't know who Percy's dad was, he'd stay in Hermes' cabin until he got claimed. Hermes wasn't that picky...

Percy paused, processing this information. Then, he opened his mouth and asked, "How long do I have to be here?"

"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."

"How long will that take?" Percy asked.

It took all I had to resist slapping Percy's shoulder.

"Come on, I'll show you the volleyball court," I told Percy, anxious to get him out.

"I've already seen it," Percy answered.

Gods, he was so annoyingly clueless!

"Come on," I said, annoyed. I pulled him out of the cabin.

* * *

When we were out of the cabin, I lectured Percy. Oh, why did he have to be so… clueless? He wasn't getting it. I couldn't believe I actually thought he was the one. Well… I guess I could believe it, since I always said that whenever someone new came. But when I saw Percy coming, I had a feeling that he really could be the one. It just seemed like something clicked...

"Jackson, you have to do better than that," I scolded.

"What?" Percy asked.

He really _didn't _know what I was talking about? I rolled my eyes and muttered under my breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one." It probably came out a little too loud.

"What's your problem?" Percy asked angrily. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy-"

"Don't talk like that!" I said. _Don't be so ungrateful! _"You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?" Including me. I mean, this is what I have been training for! I could prove myself! Then Chiron would see I was worthy enough to go on a quest.

"To get killed?" Percy asked.

"To fight the Minotaur!" I corrected. "What do you think we train for?"

Percy shook his head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was _the _Minotaur, the same one in the stories…"

Where was he going with this? "Yes."

"Then there's only one." Percy said.

_Could you please stop saying all these obvious statements?_ "Yes."

"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So…" Percy said, looking satisfied.

"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die." _Wow, he has a lot to learn._

"Oh, thanks. That clears it up," Percy said sarcastically.

"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even a lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form."

Percy was thinking. "You mean, if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword-"

I flashed back to when Percy was mumbling about his math teacher turning into a monster: into a fury. "The Fur… I mean your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."

"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?" Percy asked curiously.

You don't just drool when you sleep. "You talk in your sleep," I told him.

"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?" Percy asked.

I glanced nervously at the ground, where Lord Hades' domain was. _Please don't get mad!_ I thought. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all." People can think the name, but just shouldn't say it.

"Look, is there anything we _can _say without it thundering? Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway?" Percy whined. "Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there." He pointed to the first few cabins for Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon.

He really was clueless. I turned pale. To even think about staying in a cabin you're not allowed to be is wrong. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are… or… your parent," I said. I had heard about what happened to his mom. Apparently, the Minotaur had killed her, and I felt bad for Percy.

Percy was really naïve. "My mom is Sally Jackson. She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."

"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy," I said, looking down at the ground and studying my shoe. I really was. She sounded so nice. Nicer than my dad and stepmom. "But that's not what I mean," I continued. "I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."

Percy looked quizzical. "He's dead. I never knew him."

I sighed. I have had this conversation too many times before. The kids would all think they only have one parent, and the other was dead or went away. "Your father's not dead, Percy."

Percy looked confused. "How can you say that? You know him?" I could sense a glimmer of hope in him.

"No, of course not," I replied. I was trying to figure it out, though.

"Then how can you say-"

"Because I know you," I said. "You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."

"You don't know anything about me," Percy protested.

"No?" I said and raised an eyebrow. I was getting kind of annoyed with Percy. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out a lot of them."

"How-" Percy asked. I could tell he was starting to get freaked out.

To teach him a lesson for his stupid act in cabin eleven, I kept going. "Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."

Percy looked embarrassed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because-" I resisted the urge to say 'I have a power that allows me to see your past', "-your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek. And the ADHD-you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."

"You sound like… you went through the same thing?" Percy said in a question.

"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar," I said. "It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half blood."

Percy was silent.

Suddenly, a voice yelled out, "Well! A newbie!"

I slowly turned around, recognizing that gruff voice. It was Clarisse, daughter of Ares, the god of war. She was big and ugly (hey-my opinion here!) and mean. She sauntered over to us.

"Clarisse, why don't you go polish your spear or something?" I asked, annoyed. What I really wanted to say was, "Why don't you go jump into Tartarus?"

"Sure, Miss Princess," Clarisse said. I was ready to kill her when she called me that. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."

"_Erres es korakas!_" I said angrily. "You don't stand a chance."

"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse sneered. But I noticed her eye twitched. HA! Clarisse turned towards Percy and asked, "Who's this little runt?"

"Percy Jackson, meet Clarisse, daughter of Ares," I said.

Percy blinked. "Like… the war god?"

"You got a problem with that?" Clarisse sneered.

"No," Percy said. But to my horror, he went on. "It explains the bad smell."

Clarisse's face went red. She growled. Literally. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."

"Percy," Percy corrected.

"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you," Clarisse said.

Oh no, what was she going to do? I tried to stop her. "Clarisse-"

"Stay out of it, wise girl," Clarisse snapped.

Wise girl? She did not just go there. Anger boiled up in me. I wanted to do something, but I stayed out of it.

Percy handed me the Minotaur horn. I think he thought they were going to fight or something. Instead, Clarisse dragged me into the girl's bathroom. I followed nervously as Percy struggled to be released from Clarisse's iron grip.

Clarisse and her friends were cracking up. "Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid."

I put my hands up to my face and peeked through my fingers. Clarisse was pushing Percy's head into a toilet. Percy's face was red from his struggle not to go in.

Suddenly, water shot out of the toilet and sprayed Clarisse in the face. More blasted out and hit Clarisse so hard it pushed her down and backwards. Her friends tried to help her, but more toilets blasted water at them, and they too were sprayed right out of the bathroom.

I'd like to say it was pretty awesome. The thing was, the water had hit everywhere. I was soaking wet with toilet water. Really, it was gross. The water stunk. The only place it didn't hit was Percy. Weird. Shocked, I stared at Percy. How did he do that? What could this mean?

Percy stood up slowly.

"How did you…" my voice trailed off.

"I don't know," Percy said.

We walked out of the bathroom. Clarisse and her friends were sprawled outside in the mud. Other campers had gathered around and gawked at her.

"You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead," Clarisse glared at Percy. Honestly, I was sort of scared myself.

Percy looked annoyed. "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."

Clarisse was going to attack Percy, but her friends held her back and dragged her away.

I stared at Percy. How did he do that? It was like he was controlling... the water Could this mean…

Percy noticed me staring at him. "What? What are you thinking?" He demanded.

Um… "I'm thinking that I want you on my team for capture the flag." I said. And it was true. I had come up with a plan.

* * *

**There's chapter two! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all the reviews! I hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or else I'd be a genius... and I'm not...**

Chapter 3

I finished giving Percy a tour of camp and ended up back at the canoeing lake. I was still a little mad and grossed out for being sprayed with toilet water. I mean, even though I wasn't all that girly like the *shudder* Aphrodite girls, I was still grossed out that I got sprayed with _toilet _water! I was pretty sure anybody would be... Anyone except my sibling Jake. He said that toilet water was actually relatively clean.

"I've got training to do," I told Percy flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets," Percy apologized.

"Whatever," I said, trying to forget. It's not that I could when I was still soaking wet.

"It wasn't my fault," Percy said.

I looked at him and arched an eyebrow. I was pretty sure it was his fault, but, hey- that's just my opinion. Was it just a coincidence he was the only one who didn't get sprayed? I didn't think so. Suddenly, my thoughts came back to me getting a quest. I really wanted to get out and see the outside world. I hadn't in so long. I was pretty sure Percy _could_ be the one. Though I was hoping he wasn't the son of whom I was starting to grow suspicions that he was...

"You need to talk to the Oracle," I said.

"Who?" Percy asked.

"Not who. What," I corrected. "I'll ask Chiron."

Percy stared into the lake and caught a glimpse of two Naiads waving at him. He looked around, then waved back.

"Don't encourage them," I warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

"Naiads. That's it. I want to go home," Percy said.

I frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."

"You mean mentally disturbed kids?" Percy asked.

Did he just call me mentally disturbed? Well, that's so nice. "I mean _not human_. Not totally human anyway. Half-Human."

"Half-human and half what?" Percy asked.

"I think you know," I said. _You have to or else you'd be totally stupid… no offense or anything…_

"God," He said. "Half-god."

_Yes. He knows something. _I nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians.

"That's…" Percy seemed speechless. "Crazy."

"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?" I asked.

"But those are just-" Percy cut himself off. "But if all the kids here are half-gods-"

"Demigods," I corrected. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."

"Then who's your dad?" Percy asked.

I tensed up. My hands tightened around the pier railing I was holding on to. Obviously, I didn't like my dad. "My dad's a professor at West Point," I answered. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history.

"He's human," Percy said.

_No, he's an owl. _I thought sarcastically."What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?" I asked.

"Who's your mom, then?" Percy asked.

"Cabin six," I replied.

"…Meaning?"

I straightened up. Here was something I was proud of. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle.

"And my dad?" Percy asked.

_Why do you think I know? _"Undetermined," I replied. "Like I told you before, nobody knows."

"Except my mother. She knew," Percy said.

"Maybe not, Percy," I said. "Gods don't always reveal their identities."

"My dad would have. He loved her," Percy said.

I didn't want to burst Percy's bubble. He seemed so convinced. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his song. Sometimes it happens."

"You mean sometimes it doesn't?" Percy asked.

"The gods are busy," I said. "They have a lot of kids and they don't always… Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."

"So I'm stuck here," Percy said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"

"It depends," I answered. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. but for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave." _Especially the big three, _I thought. "We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble-about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names you'd know them." There was Albert Einstein, George Washington, Bill Gates, Rosa Parks, Amelia Earheart, and a ton of other famous people. Since they were blessed with abilities by the gods, they were able to accomplish a lot. "Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."

"So monsters can't get in here?" Percy asked, needing to be reassured.

I shook my head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."

"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?" Percy asked, confused.

"Practice Fights. Practical Jokes," I remembered the time the Stoll brothers summoned in a monster for a prank on the Aprhodite cabin. It didn't go so well. They had to clean out the bathrooms for a month after that.

"Practical jokes?" Percy asked in disbelief.

"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm," I said.

"So... you're a year-rounder?" Percy asked.

I nodded. "I've been here since I was seven," I told Percy. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."

"Why did you come so young?" Percy asked.

"None of your business," I said, glaring. Why was Percy asking all these nosy questions?

"Oh." Percy was silent. "So I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"

"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless…" I trailed off, my mind on thoughts.

"Unless?" Percy asked.

"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time…" The last time someone went on a quest was Luke. But it went wrong, and after that, Chiron didn't allow any more quests.

"Back in the sick room, when you were feeding me that stuff-"

"Ambrosia," I said.

"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."

I tensed. "So you do know something?" I had to figure out what was causing the storm to be so dark and gray. It most likely had something to do with Poseidon and Zeus...

"Well… no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"

I clenched my fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the other satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."

"You've been to Olympus?" Percy was shocked.

"Some of us year rounders –Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others- we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

"But… how did you get there?"

_How else? _"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, a special elevator to the six hundredth floor." _He didn't know this? I thought he was born in New York. _"You _are _a New Yorker, right?"

"Oh, sure."

"Right after we visited, the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping…" I was hoping that he was the one… is he? "I mean-Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."

Percy shook his head.

"I've got to get a quest," I muttered to myself. "I'm not to young. If they would just tell me the problem…"

I heard Percy's stomach growl.

"Go on," I said. "I'll catch you later."

Percy nodded and left. Meanwhile, I tried to come up with a plan to go on the quest.

* * *

I ran to the big house and saw Chiron on the front porch. "Chiron!" I called.

Chiron looked up and smiled. "Hello, Annabeth."

"Chiron, I think Percy should talk to the Oracle," I said.

Chiron paused.

"Please, Chiron?" I begged. This was really important to me-and, um, him!

Chiron nodded. "I was thinking the same thing. I will talk to him." He said.

Yes! Thank you, Chiron! "Thanks!" I said, smiling. I waved and ran off.

As I ran back towards the cabins, I noticed two people dashing off, screaming, followed by a group of screaming girls. Then, the group stopped running, and instead, started cackling. Lights encased the two people and then, they broke free of the girls and ran away.

The people grew closer, and I made them out. Connor and Travis Stoll. When I saw them, I almost burst out laughing. Connor's clothes had suddenly shrunk two times too small, and he was wobbling uncomfortably as he ran. Travis looked like a clown, with disgusting makeup on. I mean, makeup had always been bad, even when the Aphrodite girls were trying to look "pretty", but when they tried to make the makeup look ugly, they could definitely succeed.

I guessed the Aphrodite cabin had gotten their revenge.

Chortling, I went back to cabin six where my other siblings were getting ready to go to dinner. The conch shell was born and we lined up. Since we lined up in the order of seniority, I was first. Yes!

I lead my cabin to the mess hall and to our table.

As others laughed and joked, I was left deep in thought. I imagined going on the quest and having a chance to see the outside world. I really hoped that when Chiron talked to Percy about the Oracle, Percy would be the one to take on the quest.

"Aren't you going to have a drink?" My sibling, Aria, asked.

I was startled. "Oh, yeah." I picked up my glass and said, "Water." My glass filled with water.

Chiron pounded his hoof and everybody fell silent. He raised his glass and said, "To the gods!"

I raised my glass along with everyone else. "To the gods!"

Then the wood nymphs came with platters of food. I filled my plate and got up. I walked over to the fire.

I threw in the best roll I could find on the platter and said, "Athena." I prayed, _please help me get on the quest_.

I returned to my seat and ate my meal. After everyone finished, Chiron pounded his hoof again.

Mr. D stood up with a sigh and grumble. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

Ugly cheers rose from the Ares table.

_Not for long._ I thought, smiling mischievously.

"Personally, I couldn't care less," Mr. D said. "Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."

Mr. D always got everyone's names wrong. Even mine, and I had been at camp for a long time. He insisted on calling me Annabel Cameron.

Chiron murmured something to Mr. D.

"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected himself. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everyone cheered. We headed down to the amphitheater. Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. We sang camp songs about the gods. My sibling, Katie, sang really loud… I mean really… I was probably lucky I didn't go deaf.

We ate some s'mores. The campfire rose high into the air. The Stoll brothers made jokes, and I laughed along with everyone else, and not just at their jokes, but their appearances too. It was a good night.

The conch horn blew and we filed back to our cabin to get a good night's sleep. I settled into my bunk and closed my eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

**And that's the end of chapter 3! I know it wasn't exactly the best chapter. The next one will be better! Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I have this big social studies project with five parts due soon, so I might not post anything during that time period. Sorry about that!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

Chapter 4

I could hardly wait for Capture the Flag. I was looking to destroy Ares! … Don't tell anyone that, though.

I caught up with Luke on Thursday.

"Hey Luke," I said.

"Hey, Annabeth." Luke grinned at me.

Despite my efforts not to, I reddened. Embarrassed, I got back to the matter at hand. "Okay, for Friday, put Percy on border patrol."

"Border patrol?" Luke repeated. I nodded. "Is there some plan you have?"

"Of course," I said, rolling my eyes. Why else would I specifically as Luke to put Percy on border patrol?

"Sure, no problem. As long as your plan will work," Luke said. "See you, I have to get going."

"Bye," I sighed.

Luke left and my plan was in motion.

* * *

Finally, Friday came. My heart raced with excitement. This was it! Today, the Ares cabin would finally be thrown off their reign, I was sure of it! After dinner was finished, I carried the flag through the pavilion with Malcolm and Katie as everyone cheered. Our flag resembled the Athena cabin. It was ten feet long and a glistening gray. It had a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.

From the opposite side of the room Clarisse came running in with her siblings carrying their red and ugly flag.

The teams were announced. We had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Ooh, it had been sort of a pain to ally them. We had to trade shower times, chore schedules, and the best slots for activities to win the support, but it was worth it. We needed all the help that we could get.

Meanwhile, Ares allied themselves with all the other cabins. I think the other cabins were just afraid of getting beat up by Ares. They allied with Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. I wasn't too worried, though, especially about Aphrodite. All they did was check their reflection and see how they looked. Can you spell vain?

Chiron pounded his hoof. "Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules! The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"

He spread his hands and armor and weapons appeared on the table. I armed myself quickly and excitedly and yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

The blue team cheered and shook our swords. I led them quickly down a path towards the south woods to give them their positions. The red team went to the north woods.

"Hey," someone said. I saw Percy out of the corner of my eye. And no offense, but he was a funny sight. His shield was way to big for him and so was his armor.

I kept on marching. We had a long distance to go.

"So what's the plan?" Percy asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"

I couldn't tell if he was just trying to be funny or something, but my hand instinctively drifted to my pocket where I had stashed my magical cap given to me by Athena. It was still there. Good. If anyone stole that cap, I would hunt them down and kill them... and I'm not joking.

"Just watch Clarisse's spear," I warned. "You don't want that thing touching you." No one did. It was electric. "Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"

"Border patrol, whatever that means," Percy said.

_Good. My plan is working, _I thought. "It's easy. Stand by the creek; keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always has a plan."

I pushed ahead and Percy was left behind to go to the creek. It wasn't my fault Percy was really slow.

When we got to the creek, I turned to Percy and said, "This is where you'll be. Just keep the red team away."

Percy nodded. "Got it."

"Come on, blue team! Let's go!" I called out to the rest of the team and we marched forward.

We marched into the woods. Once in there, I gave people their jobs. I told Luke the plan and helped position the flag just as the conch horn blew.

"Okay, blue team! Let's win this!" I yelled. There were cheers and people ran to their stations. I remembered Percy and my plan. Oops. Maybe that wasn't such a great idea. _He probably hates me right now. _I thought. I was certain Clarisse had found him by now.

I took out my cap and placed it on my head. I immediately turned invisible. The cap was a twelfth birthday gift from my mother, and I loved it.

I ran as fast as I could towards the creek. Some people from the red team were running by, and I quickly pushed them down with the flat blade of my sword. I disarmed them and held up their weapons. The people looked around confused as they saw their weapons disappeared. I ran away from them and threw their swords. They looked around bewildered as the swords reappeared and flew away, and I backed away quietly. I turned around to see the people on the red team running to get their weapons, and I smiled.

When I got to the creek, Percy was being pushed into the creek. I jumped in the creek and was about to help when Percy stood up and swung his sword at Clarisse's sibling's head, knocking his helmet off. He crumpled into the water. Percy slammed someone else in the face with his shield and used his sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. I was shocked, but at the same time impressed. How did he learn to do that? Luke had told me that Percy wasn't doing that well in fighting, except for one time when Percy amazingly disarmed him, but that was just a fluke.

Clarisse kept marching at Percy. Her electric spear was crackling with energy. She thrust it at Percy, but he caught the shaft between the edge of his shield and sword and snapped it like a twig. Whoa! My eyes widened. Percy had snapped her spear, and that wasn't an easy thing to do! It was really strong! I was really impressed.

"Ah!" Clarisse screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"

Before she could finish her curses, Percy smacked her between the eyes with his sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek. I had to resist from cracking up. Clarisse looked so stunned.

I heard elated scream and yelling. I looked and saw Luke racing towards our boundary line with the red team's flag. Yes, my plan had worked! Clarisse and her friends had come to Percy for revenge of the toilets incident and let us capture her flag.

"A trick!" Clarisse shouted. "It was a trick!"

She got up and stumbled after Luke, but it was too late. Luke ran to our territory and our side exploded into cheers. I cheered along. Finally, Ares wasn't the winner anymore! I was so happy about that! The banner turned silver. The spear and boar were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked Luke up and carried him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out of the woods and blew the conch horn. The game was over and we had won!

"Not bad, hero," I told Percy.

Percy looked over, confused. I arched an eyebrow. Was he blind?

Oh, yeah. I took off my cap and became visible. "Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" I asked.

Percy didn't answer my question. He was mad at me. "You set me up!" He said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."

I shrugged. "I told you. Athena always, always has a plan."

"A plan to get me pulverized," Percy mumbled.

"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but…" I shrugged. "You didn't need help."

I noticed a cut on Percy's arm. It was fading. My eyes almost popped out of my head. I blinked to see if I was just imagining things. I wasn't. "How did you do that?" I asked.

"Sword cut. What do you think?" Percy responded, still cross.

"No, it _was _a sword cut. Look at it."

The cut had turned into a scar, and even that was fading and disappeared.

"I-I don't get it," Percy said. I could tell he was confused.

I was thinking hard. Oh no. I looked at him in the water, then at Clarisse's broken spear. Please don't tell me… he's… it can't be… I had an idea, but it wasn't good.

"Step out of the water, Percy," I said in a strangled voice.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Just do it," I insisted, my heart beating fast.

Percy gave me a weird look but stepped out. I crossed my fingers hopping he wouldn't faint. It didn't work. Percy almost fell over, but I caught him.

"Oh, Styx," I cursed. "This is _not_ god. I didn't want… I assumed it would be Zeus…" The water... Percy's injuries... Percy's father was…

Suddenly, I heard a canine growl. A howl ripped through the forest. The cheering died. I looked around frantically for the source.

Chiron shouted in Greek, "Stand ready! My bow!"

I drew my sword.

On the rocks just above us was a hellhound… from the Fields of Punishment! How did it get here? It was looking straight at Percy like it was planning out a strategy to kill him.

"Percy, run!" I yelled. I knew it was useless to say. Percy couldn't run in the condition he was in.

I tried to step in front of him, but the hound was too fast. It leaped close to my head and attacked Percy. I pointed my sword at the hellhound, my hands trembling. Could I kill it? I was trying to decide. I looked over at Chiron, who was pointing an arrow at the hellhound. Chiron looked at me and shook his head, and I lowered my sword an inch. Chiron was right. If I went to kill the hellhound, it would hear me approaching and attack me. However, if Chiron shot an arrow at it, it wouldn't have time to react as it wouldn't hear anything. I waited anxiously for Chiron to shoot the hellhound.

Right when I thought the hound was going to finish him, arrows shot at the hellhound, and it fell dead at Percy's feet.

Chiron trotted over to us, his face grim.

"_Di immortales!" _I said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't… they're not supposed to…"

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

I rolled my eyes. Why would Percy summon a monster to kill himself? No wonder Ares was the god of war, not brains.

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told Clarisse.

We watched as the body of the hellhound melted into the shadow and soaked into the ground until it disappeared.

"You're wounded," I said to Percy. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."

"I'm okay," Percy insisted.

"No, you're not," I said. "Chiron, watch this."

Percy stepped back into the creek with all eyes on him. His cuts started closing up. The campers gasped, but not at that. They were looking at something above his head. Something green, spinning above his head. A hologram. Of a...

"Look, I-I don't know why… I'm sorry," Percy said.

"Percy, um…" I said pointing to the space above his head.

Percy looked up. Above his head was a trident, spinning and gleaming.

"Your father," I muttered, "This is really not good." Now Percy definitely had a quest, but how could I go on a quest with the son of Poseidon? He was Athena's rival, and we couldn't get along.

"It is determined," Chiron announced.

All the campers knelt down, including me.

"My father?" Percy asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," Chiron said. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."

Just my luck.

**Yay! End of chapter 4! :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**I finally finished my social studies project! That was such a pain! :P Anyways, sorry I haven't updated! To make up for it, I will post three new chapters! Yay!**

**Disclaimer: No, no, and a thousand times no. I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians!**

Chapter 5

Percy was moved into cabin three. I continued to teach him Greek in the mornings, but I was distracted, thinking about getting on Percy's quest that could be offered to him any day.

"Um... Annabeth?"

I snapped out of my thoughts about the quest. Percy was looking at me quizically.

"Oh yeah. So, this word is pronounced as eta," I said quickly.

Percy was silent and I said, "Well? Go on and pronounce it!"

"Eta," Percy mumbled.

After the lesson, I walked away, muttering, "I have to get on that quest, but with the son of Poseidon? What dirty rotten luck. I have got to make a plan." I'm not sure, but I think Percy might have heard me since he gave me a weird look, almost like he was freaked out.

* * *

One morning, I was reading a book in my cabin when I looked up on an instinct. I saw out of the corner of my window Percy and Grover walking over to the Big House where Chiron and Mr. D were playing pinochle. I had a hunch they were going to talk about the quest, now that Percy was determined. It took me about two seconds to figure out what to do. I ran to my bunk, grabbed my cap of invisibility, and threw it on. I looked out the window again and saw they were at the Big House talking to Chiron and Mr. D at the porch. I threw the door open and ran out.

By the time I got to the porch of the Big House, Mr. D had already left. I stood at the porch stairs and listened.

"Sit, Percy, please. And Grover," Chiron said.

_What? What about me? _I thought sarcastically. Obviously Chiron couldn't see me since I was invisible, though I got the feeling he knew I was there. His eyes kept sweeping over the spot where I was standing. Every time he looked directly at me, I moved to the left or right.

"Tell me, Percy. What did you make of the hellhound?" Chiron asked.

Percy paled. "It scared me," Percy admitted. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."

"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done." Chiron said.

Done… does this mean…?

"Done… with what?" Percy asked.

"Your quest of course. Will you accept it?" Chiron asked.

My heart skipped a beat. He's got to accept it! I need this quest!

"Um, sir," Percy said bluntly. "You haven't told me what it is yet."

Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."

Thunder rumbled across the valley.

"Poseidon and Zeus, they're fighting over something valuable… something that was stolen, aren't they?" Percy asked.

Chiron and Grover exchanged glances.

"How did you know that?" Chiron asked.

_Yes, do tell._

"The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth and she'd overheard something about a theft. And… I've also been having these dreams," Percy explained.

"I knew it," Grover said.

"Hush, satyr," Chiron said.

"But it's his quest!" Grover exclaimed. "It must be!"

_I know, it must! _I was equally as excited as Grover.

"Only the Oracle can determine," Chiron said, stroking his beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."

_Zeus's master bolt was stolen? _I knew it was something bad, but I didn't know it was this bad! In my opinion, Zeus had a right to be angry.

Percy laughed nervously. "A what?"

"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives.

"Oh," was all Percy could say.

"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top of Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."

"And it's missing?" Percy asked.

"Stolen," Chiron said.

"By who?" Percy asked.

"By _whom_." Chiron corrected. "By you."

_That's ridiculous!_ I thought.

Percy's mouth fell open.

"At least"-Chiron held up a hand-"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument. The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always like you best,' 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters.' Et cetera. Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon. Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly- that is forbidden usurp ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."

"But I didn't-" Percy said.

"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne. The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."

As much as I disliked Poseidon, I thought Zeus might have gone a little overboard here. Seriously, Percy was so clueless when he arrived at camp. He didn't know ANYTHING at all. What made Zeus think that this seaweed brain had the guts to steal his master bolt?

"But I've never been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!" Percy protested.

Chiron, Grover, and I glanced nervously at the sky.

"Er, Percy…? We don't use the _c word_ to describe the Lord of the Sky." Grover said.

"Perhaps _paranoid,_" Chiron suggested. "Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before. I believe that was question 38 on your final exam." Chiron looked at Percy expectantly.

"Something about a golden net?" Person asked. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods… they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"

"Correct. And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since. Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along- the proverbial last straw."

"But I'm just a kid!" Percy protested.

"Percy," Grover said, "if you were Zeus and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that' he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you… wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"

_A twist in your toga?_

"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon-my dad- he didn't really have the master bolt stolen, did he?" Percy asked.

Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June 21st, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date. I hoped the diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense. But you arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"

"Bad?" Percy asked.

_That's all you can say, "bad"? How about chaos, the end of the world, god vs. god, death, destruction?_

"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan war look like a water balloon fight," Chiron said.

"Bad." Percy repeated. I rolled my eyes.

"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."

Suddenly, it started to rain. I was shocked and stared at the sky with my mouth hanging open. It never rained at camp.

"So I have to find the stupid bolt," Percy said. _Oh, Zeus will be mad for Percy calling his bolt stupid. _"And return it to Zeus."

"What better peace offering than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property?" Chiron asked.

"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is that thing?" Percy asked.

I leaned forward, prepared to hear what Chiron's answer would be.

"I believe I know. Part of a prophecy I had years ago… well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."

"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"

"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."

Percy looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly. I crossed my fingers.

"All right," Percy said grudgingly. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."

_What is he talking about? A dolphin? That's really random. _Then, I remebered Mr. D. He had threatened many times to turn people into dolphins... including me when I was nine. That had really freaked me out and I stayed out of his way for a month.

"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still the same, we will talk more."

* * *

As soon as Percy had gone from sight, I took off my cap. Grover jumped up a mile in his seat and yelped. Chiron turned around to see what was going on. He didn't look surprised at all to see me.

"Oh, hello, Annabeth," Chiron said.

"Hi, Chiron, Grover." I said.

Grover was shaking. "Don't do that, Annabeth!"

"Sorry." I stepped up the stairs and sat on a chair next to Chiron. "Um… I have to tell you something."

"Go ahead," Chiron said.

Should I do it? He was a son of Poseidon! Athena's rival! But I really wanted a quest! Emotions rolled all over me. To go or not to go, that was the question.

Chiron was looking at me expectantly. I knew I had to make up my mind fast, so in those two seconds I decided. "I'd like to volunteer for the quest."

Chiron didn't look surprised. "That would be great, Annabeth. If Percy agrees to it, you may go."

**Okay, end of Chapter 5! I know, I know... not the most exciting chapter... but I know the others will be better!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Yah, it's chapter six! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

Chapter 6

When Percy came back down, I already had my invisibility cap back on. He slumped down in a chair. Thankfully, it was one I wasn't sitting in.

"Well?" Chiron asked.

I leaned forward.

"She said I would retrieve what was stolen," Percy said.

"That's great!" Grover said, chewing excitedly on a Diet Coke can.

"What did the Oracle say exactly?" Chiron asked. "It's important."

"She said… I would go west and face a god who had turned."

A god who was turned? That didn't sound good. I tried to come up with a list of gods who could hold a grudge. First on my list: Hades

"I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned," Percy said.

"I knew it," Grover said.

Chiron wasn't satisfied. "Anything else?"

"No, that's about it," Percy said after a pause.

I knew Percy wasn't telling us something by the way he was acting. But just what was he holding back? Could it be that bad?

"Very well Percy," Chiron said. "But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."

"Okay, so where do I go? Who's this god in the west?" Percy asked, changing the subject.

"Ah, think Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"

"Somebody else who wants to take over?" Percy asked.

"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken," Chiron hinted.

The god clicked in my mind. The first one on my list. _Hades,_ I thought.

"Hades," Percy said.

I was right!

Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."

A piece of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?" He was stunned.

"A fury came after Percy," Chiron said. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."

"Yes, but-but Hades hates all heroes," Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon…"

"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron said. "Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."

"Great," Percy muttered, "that's two major gods who want to kill me."

"But a quest to…" Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."

I knew Grover needed this quest so he could get a searcher's license to search for Pan, the god of nature, like every Satyr's dream. I also knew Grover hated being underground.

"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron said. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon. I don't pretend to understand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."

"Look, if we know it's Hades why can't we just tell the other gods?" Percy asked. "Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."

_Bust some heads? _I rolled my eyes.

"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades-and I imagine Poseidon does-they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"

"You're saying I'm being used," Percy said.

"I'm saying it's not accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."

"You've known I was Poseidon's all along, haven't you?"

_Of course he has! He's spoken to the Oracle and refused to tell me anything about it._

"I had my suspicions. As I said… I've spoken to the Oracle, too," Chiron said.

"So let me get this straight. I'm supposed to go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead," Percy said.

"Check," Chiron said.

"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."

"Check."

"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice in ten days."

"That's about right."

"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" Grover said weakly after he ate the ace of hearts. I wasn't sure if Chiron and Mr. D wanted to play pinochle with that pile of cards anymore, seeing as it was incomplete.

"You don't have to go," Percy said. "I can't ask that of you."

"Oh…no…it's just that satyrs and underground places… well… You saved my live, Percy. If… if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down," Grover said.

"All the way, G-Man," Percy said. He asked Chiron, "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."

"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."

"Where?" Percy asked.

I put my hand up to my head and shook my head. _It's obviously in Los Angeles!_

Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."

"Oh," Percy said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane-"

_What? Is he crazy? Zeus will kill him! Does Percy even think before he speaks?_

"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"

Percy looked embarrassed and shook his head.

"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down alive."

Lightning crackled and thunder boomed for emphasis.

"Okay," Percy said. "So I'll travel overland."

"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help." That's me.

"Gee," Percy said, arranging a surprised look on his face that kind of made him lock constipated. (What? It's true!) "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"

Did he just call me stupid? I may be things, but one thing that I am not is stupid! He's more like the one that's stupid, the dumb seaweed brain!

I took off may cap and put it in my back pocket. "I've been waiting for a long time for a quest, seaweed brain," I said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."

"If you do say so yourself," Percy said. "I suppose you have a plan, wise girl?"

Was he mocking me? I blushed. "Do you want my help or not?"

Percy thought for a moment. "A trio. That'll work."

"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."

Lightning flashed and more rain poured down.

Chiron noted the storm. "No time to waste. I think you should all get packing."

* * *

I ran back to cabin six. It didn't take that long for me to decide what to bring. I snatched a book on architecture to read when I got bored. I hid my fighting knife Luke had given to me in the sleeve of my shirt and held on to my cap.

My siblings watched me pack. "So you're really going?" Malcolm asked.

I nodded. "I finally have a chance to see the outside world. Even though it's with a son of Poseidon, I have to go!"

All my siblings nodded, understanding. They knew how much I wanted to go on a quest. They bid me good-bye and I ran off, waving back at them.

I met up with Grover and Percy. We waved goodbye to the other campers and hiked up to Thalia's pine tree. Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Argus was also there in a chauffeur uniform. He was going to drive us to the bus station.

I heard footsteps behind us and turned around to see Luke. My heart raced.

"Hey! Glad I caught you!" Luke said.

I turned beet red when I saw Luke despite my best efforts not to.

"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told Percy. "And I thought… um, maybe you could use these."

Luke handed Percy a pair of sneakers he was holding in his hand. "Maia!" He said.

Wings sprouted out of the heels of the shoes. Percy was so startled he dropped hem. The shoes flapped around until the wings folded up and disappeared.

"Awesome!" Grover said.

I had to admit, it _was_ pretty cool.

Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days…" He turned sad.

"Hey man," Percy said, "thanks."

Listen, Percy…" Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just… kill some monsters for me, okay?"

Percy and Luke shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head. Then he hugged me, leaving me ready to pass out.

After Luke left, Percy told me, "You're hyperventilating."

"Am not!" I said. Okay, so what if I was?

"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"

Oh no, Percy was getting on to something... and if he -a stupid seaweed brain- could see it, then that meant everyone else could to! I suddenly got embarrassed. How many people knew that I had a crush on Luke? Did Luke know?

"Oh… why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?" I asked, pretending to be annoyed when I really was embarrassed, and stomped all the way over to the SUV with Argus following me. I hopped in and sat on a seat. After I got myself comfortable, I looked out the window in time to see Grover wearing the magical shoes and flying sideways towards the van. I guess Percy gave them to Grover since the whole sky and Zeus thing.

Grover panted and took off the shoes he jumped in the van and said, "That was scary! But fun!"

A few minutes later, Percy joined us in the van.

Argus started up the car and drove out of the countryside and out of Camp Half Blood. I looked back at the place I lived since I was seven, then turned around and braced myself for the beginning of the quest.

**Okay, that was sort of a cheesy end to chapter six. Anyways, hope you liked it!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Yes, it's chapter seven! By the way, thank you for all your reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.**

Chapter 7

Percy insisted on staring at everything the car passed, even a McDonald's. It was really starting to annoy me. He acted like he never saw anything before in his life.

"So far so good," Percy told me after he finally turned away from the window. "Ten miles and not a single monster."

I glared at Percy. Did he _want_ to jinx us? "It's bad luck to talk that way, seaweed brain."

"Remind me again-why do you hate me so much?"

"I don't hate you," I said.

"Could've fooled me."

"Look, we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."

"Why?"

I sighed. "How many reasons do you want?" _Stop asking so many stupid questions!_ "One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is hugely disrespectful. Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. You dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift. My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."

"They must really like olives," Percy remarked.

"Oh, forget it," I said.

"Now, if she'd invented pizza-that I could understand."

I was getting annoyed. "I said, forget it!" Pizza? How is _pizza_ important? Boys. All they cared about were video games and food.

There was heavy traffic down in the Queens and slowed us down. By the time we got to Manhattan, it was sunset and it starting to rain. I wished we had gotten here two hours earlier while it was still very light and not raining.

Argus dropped us off at the Greyhound Station and helped unload our bags. He made sure we had our bus tickets and then drove away.

It took a long time for the bus to get here, so we played Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. I was awesome, if I do say so myself. I could bounce the apple off my knee, elbow, shoulder, or anywhere else I wanted to. But ouch, did those apples hurt! I pretended not to care, though. Percy wasn't that bad himself.

"Here, Grover. Why don't you try?" Percy asked and tossed the apple towards Grover. The apple got too close to his mouth and Grover jumped up and ate the whole apple in one bite.

Grover blushed. "Oops… sorry about that."

Percy and I were too busy cracking up to answer.

Finally, the bus came. While we were standing in line to board, Grover started looking around and sniffing the air.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"I don't know," Grover said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."

But I knew that as a satyr, Grover could sniff out if any monsters were near. I grew nervous. We boarded the bus and I kept slapping my cap nervously against my thigh.

I kept my gaze at the passengers getting on. When I saw the last passengers getting on, I clamped my hand onto Percy's knee. "Percy."

Getting on the bus were the Kindly Ones- and all THREE of them, even the one Percy dispelled!

Percy scrunched down in his seat. The Kindly Ones sat in the row behind the driver. The two in the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway and made an X, signaling for us not to leave. I started panicking.

"She didn't stay dead long enough," Percy complained as the bus pulled out of the station. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."

_Why are you blaming me? You're the one that didn't have the power to dispell her for a lifetime._ "I said if you're lucky," I snapped. "You're obviously not."

Grover whimpered. "All three of them! _Di immortales_!"

I thought hard. "It's okay. The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. No problem. No problem." There obviously was a problem. "We'll just slip out the windows."

"They don't open," Grover moaned.

"A back exit?" I suggested.

"There isn't one."

"They won't attack us with witnesses around, will they?" Percy asked nervously.

"Mortals don't have good eyes," I explained. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."

"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"

I thought about it. I didn't exactly think so, but I didn't want Percy to be so panicked he wouldn't move. "Hard to say. But we can't count on the mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof…?"

We rode through the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went completely dark except for the running lights down the aisle.

One of the Kindly Ones got up. She said in a flat voice that was loud enough for the whole bus to hear, "I need to use the restroom."

"So do I," The second sister said.

"So do I," The third sister said.

They all started coming down to the aisle towards us. With each step they took, my heart beated faster. They looked like they wanted to kill Percy. I started to worry for him.

"I've got it. Percy, take my hat," I commanded. I was surprised at what I said. I was giving my magical item to anyone, much less Percy, son of my mom's rival. But I couldn't take it back. I feared for Percy's safety. If he got killed, then there was no way Grover and I would be able to finish the quest alone. It was Percy's quest!

"What?" Percy looked shocked.

"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."

"But you guys-" Percy protested.

"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," I said. Yeah, like a millionth chance, but I didn't say it or else he'd refuse to leave. "You're a son of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."

"I can't just leave you," Percy said.

"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"

Percy put on the hat and disappeared.

Suddenly, the Kindly Ones were by our seat. They weren't human anymore. They had changed into the furies. They had bat's wings and claws. Their handbags changed into fiery whips. They looked deadly.

The Kindly Ones surrounded us and lashed their whips at us. "Where is it? Where?" They hissed at us.

It? I could see reasons that the Kindly Ones would call Percy an "it", but really, that was going a bit too far.

"He's not here!" I yelled and ducked a whip. "He's gone!"

People on the bus were screaming. They were glancing over at us, panicked. I didn't know what they were seeing, but I hoped they didn't think we were threatening three old ladies.

The Kindly Ones raised their whips. I drew out my knife and Grover grabbed a tin can from his bag, prepared to throw it, though I knew he didn't have the best aim. He would probably hit me instead. Or he'd eat it.

Suddenly, the bus jerked to the left and everyone was thrown to the right. The Kindly Ones were smashed to the window and wailed. Grover and I were thrown headfirst towards them. OUCH! I had a feeling Percy was behind this. The bus continued slamming around and we were tossed around inside the bus. People screamed, "We're going to die! We're going to die! What is wrong with the bus driver?"

What's wrong? He's a 12-year-old kid with ADHD.

Then, the bus came to a screeching stop. The emergency lights came on and the door flew open. Everyone looked eager to get out.

The Kindly Ones and Grover and I were the only ones left on the bus. Or so I thought. A voice called from the front of the bus. "Hey!"

I turned and saw Percy standing in the front of the bus. No! He wasn't supposed to come back! That wasn't part of the plan! Oh great, now he could get killed.

"Perseus Jackson, you have offended the gods. You shall die," one of the Kindly Ones said.

"I liked you better as a math teacher," Percy said. Oh, it was "Mrs. Dodds".

I motioned for Grover to follow me, and we moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening to attack.

Percy took a pen out from his pocket.

_Seriously? Is he that much of a seaweed brain that he uses a pen as a weapon? Does he think throwing a pen at the Kindly Ones will knock them out and kill them? _

Percy uncapped the pen and it changed a sword.

_Oh, never mind._

The Kindly Ones hesitated. "Submit now and you will not suffer eternal torment," Mrs. Dodds hissed.

"Nice try," Percy said.

I saw Mrs. Dodds getting ready to whip Percy and the other Furies on the other sides of him. "Percy, look out!" I screamed.

Percy fought off the other two Kindly Ones while I got a hold of Mrs. Dodds and yanked her backwards, giving Grover time to rip the whip out of her hands.

"Ow! Ow! Hot! Hot!" Grover yelled.

Mrs. Dodds tried to shake me off her back, but I kept a strong hold on her. It was really hard. She kept bucking around like one of those buffalos at the rodeo. Grover tied Mrs. Dodd's legs up with the whip he snatched from her. Then we shoved her backwards into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she kept falling down.

"Zeus will destroy you!" she said. "Hades will have your soul!"

"_Braccas meas vescimini!_" Percy yelled. Eat my pants? That was so random, and not exactly a good death threat, I might add.

Thunder shook the bus. I sensed danger if we stayed on the bus. "Get out! Now!" I yelled.

Percy, Grover, and I ran out of the bus and onto the street where the other passengers were. Someone was shouting, "We're going to die!" If it weren't such a serious matter, I would have found it funny.

A tourist took a picture of Percy holding his sword.

"Our bags!" Grover shouted. "We left our-"

_KABOOOOOOOM! _

The bus exploded and we ran for cover, but not before hearing an angry wail telling us the Kindly Ones were unfortunately still alive.

"Run!" I cried. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"

We ran into the woods and didn't stop running until we were sure we were safe.

Grover was still shivering. "Three Kindly Ones. All three at once," He whimpered.

Grover and Percy were being slow. I urged them forward. "Come on! The farther away we get, the better!" If the Kindly Ones caught up, we would be dead.

"All our money was back there," Percy whined. "Our food and clothes. Everything."

_Do you think I don't know that?_ I was getting seriously annoyed. "Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight-" I snapped.

"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?" Percy asked.

"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine," I argued.

I was actually annoyed at the fact Percy had come back. I know he was trying to be nice and protect us, but it scared me to think that if he died, it would be all over.

"Sliced like sandwich bread, but fine," Grover added.

"Shut up, goat boy," I muttered.

Grover mourned. "Tin cans… a perfectly good bag of tin cans." I arched an eyebrow. We just narrowly escaped the Kindly Ones and Grover has to complain about his tin cans? I knew I was being mean. I was just really paranoid from the attack. I tried to be nicer as I urged Percy and Grover on.

We continued making our way through the woods. After a few minutes, I told Percy, "Look, I… I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave." As much as I hate to admit it, Grover and I might have died in there if it had not been for Percy.

"We're a team, right?" Percy asked.

I was silent. "It's just that if you died, aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."

The rain finally let up.

"You haven't left Camp Half Blood since you were seven?" Percy asked.

"No… only short field trips. My dad-"

"The history professor."

"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood is my home. At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's were you learn whether you're any good or not."

"You're pretty good with that knife," Percy said.

"You think so?" I asked, fingering my knife.

"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."

I smiled. For a son of Poseidon, Percy wasn't all _that_ bad.

**Yay! End of chapter seven! I hope you liked it! Please take the time to review!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

My thoughts kept wandering back to the incident on the bus. Even though there were reasons for the Kindly Ones to call Percy an "it", I don't think they were talking about him when they said, "Where is it?"

"You know, maybe I should tell you… something funny back on the bus…" I started to tell Percy.

Before I could tell Percy what I was thinking about, there was a shrill _toot-toot-toot _made by Grover.

"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried. "If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods."

Grover blew some notes and I had to stop myself from laughing. Was he playing Hilary Duff? I didn't know how a song by Hilary Duff would help. I was right.

Grover's "find path song" didn't really work. We wandered around the woods for a mile. I was pretty sure that Percy was having the most trouble. He kept walking into trees and cursing. Though I couldn't see much in the dark, I was better at navigating than Percy,

Suddenly, I smelled food. Junk food. I hadn't eaten junk food since… forever. A longing came over me. I walked towards the smell.

We kept on walking until we came upon a building with a neon sign above a gate. I had no idea what it said. Darn dyslexia.

"What the heck does that say?" Percy asked me.

"I don't know," I admitted, frustrated.

"Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium," Grover said.

Percy crossed the street over to the building, following the delicious smell of food.

"Hey…" Grover warned.

"The lights are on inside. Maybe it's open," I said hopefully.

"Snack bar," Percy said wistfully.

"Snack bar," I agreed. I was in the mood for a cheeseburger.

"Are you two crazy?" Grover cried. "This place is weird!"

We ignored him, our minds too focused on the food.

The front lot had statues of animals, children, and even satyrs.

"Bla-ha-ha!" Grover said. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"

We stopped at the warehouse door.

"Don't knock!" Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."

"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," I scoffed. "All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"

"Meat! I'm a vegetarian," Grover said.

"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," Percy said with a "ha!" face.

_Um… Percy… that's not meat… wow…_

"Those are vegetables," Grover said.

Since when was a tin can a vegetable?

"Come on. Let's leave. These statues are… looking at me," Grover whimpered.

Suddenly, the door opened and standing in the door was a tall woman with a black gown and a veil on her head. It was too late to leave. We couldn't just suddenly go, "Hi! Just… dropping by to see if your door works… Well, bye!"

"Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are you parents?" The woman asked.

I panicked. "They're… um…"

"We're orphans," Percy stepped in.

"Orphans? But, my dears! Surely not!" The woman said.

"We got separated from our caravan. Our circus caravan," Percy said. _Seriously? That sounds totally… dumb. Who would believe we came from a circus caravan?_ "The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?" I snorted. Percy was so blunt.

"Oh, my dears. You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."

We thanked her and went inside. I still couldn't believe that the woman bought the story.

"Circus caravan?" I muttered to Percy.

"Always have a strategy, right?" Percy replied.

"Your head is full of kelp."

Seaweed Brain.

The warehouse had a ton of more statues, but I didn't care. I wanted food! We made our way to the dining area. There was a food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. My eyes grew wide.

"Please, sit down." Aunty Em said.

"Awesome," Percy said, and I agreed.

"Um, we don't have any money, ma'am," Grover said.

"No, no children," Aunty Em said. "No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."

I remembered my manners and said, "Thank you, Ma'am." Was it my imagination, or did Aunty Em stiffen?

"Quite all right, Annabeth," Aunty Em said. "You have such beautiful gray eyes, child." I wondered how she knew my name, but soon forgot since I really wanted the junk food.

All right, all right, call me an idiot for not noticing the suspicious things going on down there and paying more attention to food. But would you have been focused on that if you hadn't eaten junk food in forever and you smelled and saw tons of junk food that you could eat for free, and it was probably the only chance you'd get to eat junk food? I don't think so.

We sat down and Aunty Em brought us trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and French fries. My mouth watered. I dug in.

I was slurping down my shake when Grover asked, "What's that hissing noise?"

I listened hard. I didn't hear anything and shook my head.

"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."

"I take vitamins. For my ears," Grover said.

Was he serious or did he really take vitamins? No… I don't think he did. After all, satyrs have naturally good hearing.

"That's admirable," she said. "But please, relax."

"So, you sell gnomes," Percy said, making small talk.

"Oh yes," Aunty Em said. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."

"A lot of business on this road?" Percy asked.

"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built… most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every costumer I get," Aunty Em said.

Percy noticed a stature of a little girl holding an Easter basket. She looked startled and terrified. Why would Aunty Em make a statue of a terrified little girl? She seriously is old enough to know it won't sell well.

"Ah, you notice some of my creations do not turn out as well," Aunty Em said. "They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."

"You make these statues yourself?" Percy asked.

"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company."

I stopped eating. "Two sisters?" I repeated. Did I hear right?

"It's a terrible story. Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, long ago, when I was young. I had a… a boyfriend, you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart. She caused a terrible accident. My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but they eventually passed on. They faded away. I alone has survived, but at a price. Such a price," Aunty Em said.

I got scared. I had a hunch on who Aunty Em was, and she wasn't a human. Two sisters… a boyfriend… a bad woman… hey, that woman was NOT bad… statues… I now knew why Grover was so scared. That woman was… Em… M… Med- Oh, I really didn't want it to be true!

"Percy?" I said, shaking him to get his attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting," I said, sounding tense.

"Such beautiful gray eyes," "Aunty Em" told me. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."

That confirmed my suspicion. So she had seen gray eyes like mine. Like my mother's. I stood up and said, "We really should go."

"Yes! The ringmaster is waiting! Right!" Grover said, eagerly jumping up.

"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"

"A pose?" I asked warily.

"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set. Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."

I didn't know what she was up to with the photograph talk, but I knew she really wasn't going to take a picture.

"I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on Percy-" I said.

"Sure we can. It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?" Percy asked.

What was wrong with Percy? I glared at him. _Why isn't he listening to Grover and me? _If we ever got back to camp, Percy should work on being able to listen and follow the advice of others.

"Yes, Annabeth. No harm," Aunty Em said.

Seeing how dense Percy was, I knew we weren't going to get anywhere before having to "take a picture". I didn't like it, but I allowed Aunty Em to lead us back out the front door into the garden of statues. Maybe I could make a run for it. But I couldn't leave Percy and Grover behind.

Aunty Em made us sit on a bench next to a stone satyr. The one that Grover insisted looked like his uncle. "Now, I'll just position you correctly. The young girl in the middle, I think, and two young gentlemen on either side."

"Not much light for a photo," Percy observed.

"Oh, enough. Enough for us to see each other, yes?"

Not really.

"Where's your camera?" Grover asked. Exactly what I was thinking.

Aunty Em didn't answer. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me pleas, everyone? A large smile?"

No.

Grover glanced at the statue satyr. "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."

I grew nervous. If Grover kept insisting that the statue _was_ his uncle, then it probably was.

"Grover, look this way, dear," Aunty Em said. Still she had no camera.

"Percy-" I said, trying to warn him.

"I will just be a moment," Aunty Em said, "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil…"

"Percy, something's wrong," I insisted. Obviously. "Aunty Em" wouldn't wait all that time to take off her veil when she could have when she was cooking for us. She was up to something. And I knew what it was. She was taking off her veil to reveal…

"Wrong? Not at all dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?" She was undoing her wrap. Oh Styx! She was taking off her veil to reveal… the snakes on her head.

"That _is _Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped. I knew it.

"Look away from her!" I screamed. I put on my invisibility cap and pushed Grover and Percy off the bench, making them look away from the horrors of Aunty "M", also known as Medusa.


	9. Chapter 9

**Yay, early update! I just had time and I thought, "Why not?" Thanks for all the reviews! You guys are awesome!**

**Disclaimer: ... ... ... ... *Someone else: "Spit it out."* Okay... I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians. :(**

Chapter 9

Percy was frozen on the ground. Medusa was in front of him. He started to look up.

"No! Don't!" I screamed, hiding behind a statue. If he looked directly into Medusa's eyes, he would become a statue.

"Run!" Grover cried. "Maia!" He activated his flying shoes.

Percy was still frozen. I wanted to help him, but there was no way I wanted to get near Medusa, even when I was invisible. There was no doubt that Medusa would kill me if I got even five yards from her.

Medusa hated my mother because of what my mother did to her. Medusa's two other sisters she talked about were named Stheno and Euryale. Medusa always had said she was so much prettier than anyone else, and she took the most pleasure in telling that to my mom. It's not like my mom cared that much about how pretty she was. Athena was known for brains, not beauty, after all.

But one day, Medusa and Poseidon were on a date and they snuck into my mom's temple, which was hugely disrespectful. My mom found out. She got so mad at Medusa and turned her "beautiful hair" into ugly snakes. Of course, Athena had the right to do that. I always said Medusa deserved it. No one could think that they could sneak into someone else's property and get away with it. I mean, if Medusa and Poseidon _had_ to meet someplace, couldn't they have done it in _Poseidon's _temple? Gosh!

_Think, Annabeth. How did Medusa die before? _I ran threw all the facts I knew about the Greek monsters. Finally, I got it.

A person named Perseus, Percy's namesake, killed Medusa. I figured that if Perseus could kill Medusa, so could kill Medusa, so could Percy. After all, that's who Percy was named after.

Perseus had used a mirror to slay Medusa. He looked at her reflection in the mirror. Since her reflection was harmless, he could see where he was going and advance at Medusa. He severed Medusa's head and killed her.

That was it! Percy could slay Medusa using a mirror! But where could I get one?

"Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," Medusa crooned. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up.

Percy looked away.

"The Gray-Eyed One did this to my, Percy," Medusa said with a voice sounding like a grandmother. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."

_Oh please, you were hardly beautiful before. My mother had a right to turn you into an old hag._

"Don't listen to her!" I shouted. "Run, Percy!"

"Silence!" Medusa hissed. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter. I shall crush her stature to dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."

"No," Percy muttered, desperately trying to move.

"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."

Suddenly, Grover came whizzing right behind my head. I ducked. "Percy!" Grover yelled, continuing on and not realizing he almost killed me. "Duck!"

Yeah, thanks Grover. Don't notice you almost chopped my head off.

Grover was holding a tree branch and flying towards Medusa. His eyes were squeezed closed tight. He was relying on his nose and ears to get Medusa. "Duck! I'll get her!" He yelled.

Finally, Percy came to his senses and dove to the side.

I (partially) watched as Grover clobbered Medusa on the head. _Thwack!_

"You miserable satyr!" Medusa snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"

"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled.

Grover swooped down and hit Medusa again. _Ker-whack!_

"Arrgh!" Medusa screamed.

With Medusa distracted, I had a chance to tell Percy about my plan. I ran across and over to Percy. "Percy!"

Percy nearly jumped a mile. "Jeez! Don't do that!"

Oops. I forgot I was invisible. I took off my cap. "You have to cut her head off," I told Percy.

"What? Are you crazy? Let's get out of here!" Percy said.

"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but…" I swallowed. "But you've got the better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You-you've got a chance."

"What? I can't-" Percy stuttered.

"Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?" I pointed to a pair of statue lovers, turned to stone by Medusa.

_Where could I get a mirror? _I grabbed a green gazing ball from a pedestal and studied it. Oh, well. At least you could see the reflection in the ball. "A polished shield would be better. The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of-"

"Would you speak English?" Percy asked.

"I _am_!" I said, glaring at him. _Maybe you should just get a bigger vocabulary and brain, especially one that doesn't have seaweed in it!_ I tossed him the ball. "Just look at her in the glass. _Never_ look at her directly."

"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled above us. "I think she's unconscious!"

"ROOOOAAARRR!"

"Maybe not," Grover said. He flew to Medusa again with the branch to hit her again. I didn't know how long he could last. I was honestly surprised Grover hadn't been hurt already.

"Hurry," I told him. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash." We both knew that.

Percy took out his pen and uncapped it. It changed to a sword. Using the gazing ball, he slowly advanced.

I put on my cap again and backed away. Call me a coward, but I did not want to be changed into a stature and smashed to smithereens. Would you?

Grover was trying to hit Medusa when Medusa grabbed the stick and pulled him off course. He hit a grizzly bear. I ran over to him. He groaned. "Ouch."

"Grover, are you okay?" I asked.

"Food…" Grover mumbled.

I shook Grover.

"W-what?" Grover asked, opening his eyes and blinking.

I heard Percy yell, "Hey!" I looked over and saw Percy advance on Medusa.

"You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy," she crooned. "I know you wouldn't."

_Oh, yes you will, Percy, or I'll kill you._

Grover moaned, "Percy, don't listen to her!"

Medusa cackled. "Too late." She lunged at Percy.

Percy closed his eyes and slashed his sword. It punctured Medusa and she disintegrated. Her head fell to the ground next to his foot.

"Oh, yuck," Grover said. His eyes were closed, but he could hear the gurgling and steaming. "Mega-yuck."

Eew. I could hear the ooze, too. Disgusting.

_We need to get something to transport her head inside. We can't just leave her head here. _I ran to get Medusa's veil. I took off my cap and walked over to Percy, holding the veil and looking up at the sky. Even though Medusa wasn't alive anymore, if you looked at her head, you could still be turned to stone. "Don't move," I told Percy. I draped Medusa's head in black cloth very carefully without looking down and picked it up. It was dripping green juice. Yuck.

"Are you okay?" I asked Percy, my voice trembling.

"Yeah. Why didn't… why didn't the head evaporate?" Percy asked.

"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," I explained. "Same as your minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."

Grover moaned as he climbed down from the grizzly statue. He was in pretty bad shape. He had a big welt on his forehead and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves.

"The Red Baron. Good job, man," Percy said.

Grover grinned bashfully. "That was really _not_ fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. But crashing into a concrete bar? _Not_ fun."

Grover snatched his shoes out of the air and Percy recapped his sword. We stumbled back to the warehouse. We scavenged around and found some old plastic grocery bags, which we wrapped around Medusa's head. Then we plopped the head on the table.

Percy turned to me and said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"

I glared at him. Stupid Seaweed Brain, trying to blame someone else for _his_ problem. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad. You probably reminded her of him."

"Oh, so now it's _my_ fault we met Medusa," Percy said.

_Haven't you been listening to anything I said? Besides, Don't you remember that little event? _"It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?" I imitated him.

"Forget it, you're impossible," Percy said.

"You're insufferable," I shot back.

"You're-"

"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even _get _migraines. What are we going to do with the head?"

Percy stood up. "I'll be back," he said.

"Percy, what are you-" I called after Percy.

Percy rummaged around the warehouse. I rolled my eyes.

I turned around to face Grover. My thoughts went back to the incident on the bus with the Kindly Ones.

"Hey, Grover? You know on the bus with the Kindly Ones?" I started. "Well… something jut doesn't seem right. I mean, why would the Kindly Ones call Percy an 'it'? Even though they have obvious reasons too…"

I thought back to the bus incident. _"Where is it? Where?"_ The Kindly Ones had said. Something just didn't seem right. Of course they could be talking about Percy. After all, he is seaweed-like. But I didn't think so. _It_… not a person… an object…

Grover had concern on his face. "You're right. I know there is something weird going on. Something weird with the quest. I don't think they were talking about Percy. They were talking about something else…"

Percy came back and Grover and I fell silent. Percy had a slip and packaging for Hermes Overnight Express. He put Medusa's head in the box and filled out the delivery slip:

The Gods

Mount Olympus

600th floor,

Empire State Building

New York, NY

With best wishes,

PERCY JACKSON

"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."

Percy poured golden drachmas into the pouch of the package. He closed it, and the package floated off the table and disappeared.

"I _am_ impertinent," Percy said.

Percy looked at me, daring me to criticize. I didn't. Why was he so obsessed with ticking off the gods? "Come on. We need a new plan," I muttered.

**And that ends chapter nine! I hope you liked it! :) Oh no, and yet another social studies project that makes me so confused and "AAH" is going to be due... tomorrow... :( I have to finish!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Here is chapter ten! Thanks for all your reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO series.  
**

Chapter 10

That night, we camped out in the woods. We had taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's. The ground was littered with soda cans and fast food wrappers. We decided to sleep in shifts. Percy took the first watch. I was out and asleep before I knew it. Suddenly, I was woken up by someone touching me.

"What? Who's there? What do you want?" I asked instinctively, holding out my sword.

"It's me, Grover. It's your turn for the shift," Grover whimpered.

"Oh," I said. "Sorry."

I sleepily rubbed my eyes and looked around the dark woods. I had to say being on shift was boring. Nothing was even happening. I sighed and my eyelids started to slide close. I jerked them back open.

Hoot. Hoot.

I smiled at the sound of the owl's hoot. I hoped Athena was watching over me and helping me. We needed a plan to get to Los Angeles. We didn't have any transportation or money. We could walk, but we'd get there in about 5 years. Taking an airplane wasn't an option. And like I said, no money to get a cab or bus.

Before I knew it, the sun was peeking out from behind the tall trees. Grover mumbled and tossed and woke up. The first thing he said was, "Food."

"Good morning," I said. "I'm going to cook breakfast in the Medusa's kitchen. At least, I'm going to try."

"Good luck with that," Grover said.

"Help me," I pleaded. I was no good at cooking.

Grover seemed reluctant. He finally gave in.

We went back to the warehouse and looked for something good to eat. Mmm… pancakes sound good.

I made the pancake batter and cooked it with much difficulty.

"Annabeth, that pancake is about to burn!" Grover yelped.

"Watch it, you're getting batter all over the place!"

"Aaaaaah!"

"Eew… I think this pancake should be thrown out."

"AAAH! FIRE!"

After Grover and I ran around frantically and put out the fire, Grover said, "Um… I think I'm going to go and… watch over our things…" With that, he took off, leaving me alone to cook breakfast.

When I finished making good batches of pancakes, I found maple syrup and topped them off. I divided them onto three paper plates: one for me, one for Percy, and one for Grover. I carried the plates back to where we were camping out.

"Mmm!" Grover mumbled and with that, all his pancakes were gone before I even finished one of mine. Grover still looked hungry and gobbled down Percy's share of pancakes.

"Oops," Grover mumbled. "Did I do that? Percy's not going to be happy when he finds out he missed pancakes."

I shrugged. Oh, what did I care if Seaweed Brain got anything to eat? "Just don't tell him," I said and finished eating my pancakes. I went back to the warehouse and got a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips for Percy's breakfast. Hey- it's not my fault Grover ate the pancakes! Besides, I was still a little mad at Percy from last night.

When I came back with the chips, Grover was emerging from a cluster of trees carrying a pink poodle.

Pink? That has got to be a fake poodle.

"What's that?" I asked. "Where'd you get it?"

"This is Gladiola. Say hi," Grover ordered me.

Gladiola growled at me.

"Um… hi," I said. _Gladiola, like the flower?_

"I found him in the woods. I think we've got a ride west," Grover said.

* * *

I shook awake Percy. His eyes opened.

"Well, the zombie lives," I remarked.

"How long was I asleep?" Percy mumbled.

"Long enough for me to cook breakfast," I said. _Sorry, there's none left for you. _I tossed him the bag of chips. "And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."

Percy glanced at Gladiola. Gladiola yapped at Percy suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."

Percy blinked, "Are you…talking to that thing?"

Gladiola growled. Wow, even I wasn't that mean to Gladiola.

"This _thing_ is our ticket west. Be nice to him," Grover said.

"You can talk to animals?" Percy asked.

Grover ignored his question, probably because it was stupid. Of course Grover could talk to animals! He was a satyr! "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."

Percy stared at me, as expecting me to do something. When I didn't, he said, "I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle. Forget it."

"Percy, I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle," I commanded.

Gladiola growled for effect.

"Hi," Percy mumbled.

"This morning I had come across Gladiola in the woods," Grover explained. "We started talking, and he told me that he had run away from a rich local family. They'd posted a $200 reward for his return. He didn't want to go back, but he's willing to if it meant helping me."

_You know, Gladiola's not all that bad. He must really like Grover. _

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" Percy asked.

"He read the signs. Duh," Grover said.

_Does Percy really think that humans are the only intellectual beings on this planet?_

"Of course," Percy said. "Silly me."

"So we turn in Gladiola, we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple," I said.

"Not another bus," Percy said warily.

"No," I agreed. I pointed downhill towards train tracks. "There's an Armtrack station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

* * *

The money we got from returning Gladiola only could get us as far as Denver. We spent two days on the train. We weren't attacked, but that didn't stop us from being cautious.

Percy tried to keep a low profile. His name and picture were on several East Coast newspapers. Apparently, Percy's stepfather wanted Percy back to kill him or something, and he offered a cash reward.

"Don't worry, mortal police could never find us," I told Percy. But I wasn't so sure, and I know I didn't sound so sure.

Once, when Percy fell asleep, I heard him mutter, "No." Silence. Then again, he said, "I want help you." After that, he didn't say anything else before he was jostled awake.

Before I could ask him about anything, Grover, asleep, shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Percy and I had to stick it back on before anybody noticed and started screaming.

After we got Grover's foot back on, I asked, "Who wants your help?"

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, confused.

"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"

I could tell Percy was reluctant to tell me. I didn't even think he was going to tell me. But surprisingly, he spoke. "I dreamed about an evil voice from a pit. I was standing in a dark cavern before a huge pit. There were spirits of the dead, there, tugging at my clothes and trying to pull me back. I walked over to the edge of the pit and looked down. It gave me a feeling something huge and evil was trying to rise from it. The voice sounded amused. He tried to get me to bring him the master bolt and help him rise. He told me he'd give me my mom in exchange. The dead spirits tried to wake me up. The thing in the pit was trying to have me pull it out. Then I woke up."

I was quiet for a long time, thinking. Could it possibly be Hades? But… that didn't sound like him. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."

"He offered my mother in trade," Percy protested. "Who else could do that?"

"I guess … if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' if he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him he master bolt if he already has it?" I asked. The whole thing was confusing me.

Percy shook his head.

I readjusted Grover's cap so it covered his horns. Percy had a worried and thoughtful look on his head. I understood it. Percy was thinking about what the mystery voice in his dream had said about offering him his mom. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time-"

"This time?" Percy asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"

My hand crept up to my necklace and I fingered the bead with the pine tree on it. I flashed back to five years ago, when I was trying to get to camp with Thalia, Luke, and Grover with the Kindly Ones after Thalia. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom," I warned.

"What would you do if it was your dad?" Percy asked, trying to make us see eye-to-eye. Ha! That didn't work.

"That's easy," I said. "I'd leave him to rot."

"You're not serious?" Percy asked, shocked.

I turned to Percy. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," I said bitterly. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."

"But how… I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital," Percy said.

_No, really? _"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five, he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist." My voice was starting to falter, and I stopped talking. I flashed back to those unhappy days and said nothing.

Percy tried to make me feel better. "My mom married a really awful guy. Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what our dad was thinking."

I fingered my necklace and pinched the gold college ring on it that my father gave me. A tiny sliver of me hoped it could be true… but I doubted it and pushed away those thoughts. "He doesn't care about me. His wife-my stepmom-treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened-you know, something with monsters-they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'how dare you put our family at risk'. Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."

I remembered the times after monsters attacked. My dad and stepmom had glared at me and yelled, "This is all your fault!" "Why do you have to be such a danger to this family?"

"How old were you?" Percy asked.

"Same age as when I started camp. Seven."

"But…you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half Blood Hill by yourself."

"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time anyway."

Then, I was reliving my memories. I was a girl of seven, fighting monsters away. I was hidden in a trashcan when I met Luke and Thalia and made friends. Then I flashed back to that day when Thalia sacrificed herself to save us. She got turned into a pine tree. I lost myself in my memories for some time until I fell asleep.

**Heh heh... so that obviously wasn't one of the best chapters, so sorry about that! **

**I will try to update soon!  
**


	11. Chapter 11

**Finally, chapter 11! Sorry I haven't posted sooner! Enjoy! (I looked up the Gateway Arch and it looked so cool!)  
**

**Disclaimer: No... I don't own the Percy Jackson books  
**

Chapter 11

We were nearing the end of our second day on the train. It was June 13th, eight days before the summer solstice. As we passed into St. Louis, the Gateway Arch came into view. My eyes grew wide and I stared out the window at the arch.

The arch was pure beauty. I envied Eero Saarinen, the architect who designed the arch. I have always wanted to be an architect. It seemed so exciting to design and build buildings.

I analyzed the arch. Being 630 feet both wide and tall made it the tallest monument in the United States. We had to go see the arch when the train came to a stop! It would be great for me to get an idea of what to design in the future!

"I want to do that," I sighed.

I was completely unaware I had spoken until Percy asked, "What?"

"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?" I asked.

"Only in pictures."

_Me too, unfortunately. _"Someday, I'm going to see it in person," I declared.

The Parthenon was dedicated to Athena. One day, I was going to visit Greek and see the temple my mother was so proud of.

"I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years." Wait, did I just say that out loud?

Percy laughed. "You? An architect?"

I flushed. That's what you get if you share your dreams with a seaweed brain. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."

Percy was silent.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "That was mean."

"Can't we work together a little?" Percy asked. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"

I thought about it. There was the time Athena built the first ship to sail over Poseidon's domain, the sea.

"I guess…" I started.

Wait. I didn't know if the example would make him mad. "Athena intruding onto Poseidon's domain." A better and safer example would be the time Athena and Poseidon worked together to make the chariot. Athena had invented the chariot and Poseidon had made the horses out of the waves. So in order to do that, they had to cooperate.

"The chariot," I said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."

"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?" Percy asked.

I didn't answer him for a long time and kept my eyes steady on the Arch. How could I, a daughter of Athena, cooperate with her rival, Percy, a son of Poseidon? But I knew we had to cooperate in order to do this quest.

After a while when the Arch disappeared behind a hotel, I responded. "I suppose."

When the train finally pulled into the station, the driver came on the intercom and told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver.

I grew excited. Finally, my chance to go to the top of the Gateway Arch! It could be my only chance! I had to take it.

Grover stretched and muttered, "Food," before he was even fully awake.

"Come on, goat boy," I said, eager to get a move on. "Sightseeing."

"Sightseeing?"

"The Gateway Arch," I explained. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"

Grover and Percy looked hesitant as they exchanged looks. Oh, come on! Who doesn't want to see the Arch?

Grover shrugged and agreed. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."

* * *

We walked a mile from the train station to get to the Arch. Percy complained so much, you'd think that he was seven years old. When we got to the Arch, we walked through the underground museum.

I was living my dream. However, Percy didn't seem too thrilled, so I told him some facts about the Arch to make him more interested.

"Did you know that the Gateway Arch is 630 feet tall, making it the tallest monument in America?"

"The Arch ways 43,000 tons!"

"Nine hundred tons of stainless steel was used to build the arch! That's more used than any other project in history!"

But Percy looked nervous. "Guys, you know the gods' symbol of power?" Percy said.

I had been in the middle of reading the construction equipment used to build the Arch. It was so interesting! I used my fast-reading skills and finished up before looking over. "Yeah?"

"Well, Hade-"

_No! Don't say his name!_

Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place… You mean, our friend downstairs?"

"Um, right," Percy said. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"

Percy was talking about the Helm of Darkness. When the gods were battling the titans, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades received weapons from the three Cyclopes to help them fight. Zeus got the master bolt, Poseidon got the trident, and Hades got the Helm of Darkness. The weapons they received became their symbol of power.

"You mean the Helm of Darkness. Yeah, that's their symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."

"He was there?" Percy asked.

I nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus-the darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true…"

I've heard that his hat didn't just allow him to become invisible, it allowed him to become darkness. It was more than a cap of invisibility. It allowed him to melt into shadows, pass through walls, and generate fear inside you that could drive you insane or even stop your heart.

Grover confirmed what I've heard. "It allows him to become darkness. He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"

"But then… how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" Percy asked nervously.

Grover and I exchanged looks.

"We don't," Grover said.

"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better. Got any blue jelly beans left?" Percy asked.

_What? Grover has jellybeans?_

We got to the trams that were going to take us to the top of the Arch. I could barely contain my excitement.

We got into a tram with a big (I don't want to say fat) lady with beady eyes and a floppy denim hat and her dog, a Chihuahua. The guards never said anything about the dog, so I figured that it was a very… important… or special… dog.

The tram started moving and going up. I grew excited. I was almost at the top!

"No parents?" The woman asked.

"They're below," I lied. Rule number one: Never tell a stranger you're alone. "Scared of heights."

"Oh, the poor darlings," The woman said.

The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave."

Percy tried to make small talk (because yes, he's _so_ good at that) and asked, "Sonny. Is that his name?"

"No," The lady said. Then she smiled as if that cleared everything up, which it didn't.

The top of the Arch was _amazing_. There was a great view! One side had a view of the city and the other had a view of the river. However, I had problems with the tiny windows. I would've liked to make the windows bigger and the floor see-through! I mean, how cool would that be?

"Don't you think it would look better if the windows were bigger and the floor was see-through?" I asked.

"Huh?" Percy said. "Yeah… sure… whatever…"

I could have stayed up at the Arch forever! Unfortunately, a park ranger told us the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes.

I was disappointed and reluctantly left. But Percy was eager to leave and steered Grover and me into the tram… with already two people. Percy was about to get in himself when he realized there were people inside.

"Next car, sir," The park ranger said.

"We'll get out," I insisted. "We'll wait with you." I had a bad feeling about Percy being left alone.

Percy just shrugged. "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."

Grover and I both looked nervous, but we let the elevator door slide shut. Before it slid completely closed, I cast a suspicious glance at the woman with the dog. There was just something about her…

The door closed and Grover and I descended down, all the while casting worried glancing at each other.

When it got to the bottom, Grover and I immediately got out. We tilted our heads and looked at the top of the Arch for any sign of the tram coming down.

Suddenly, KABOOOOOM! There was a burst of fire and part of the Arch blew up! My mouth dropped open in horror. The monument… it blew up… and Percy was there… How did the monument just BLOW UP? Percy obviously had something to do with this. I knew that lady and her dog looked suspicious! I hoped Percy was still okay.

Grover and I exchanged horrified looks.

"Do you think that Percy possibly…" Grover started.

People started screaming.

"CALL 911! CALL 911! TERRIOST ATTACK! THE ARCH BLEW UP!"

"AAAAH! WE'RE GOING TO DIE!"

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

"WHO HAS A PHONE?"

"I DO! I'M CALLING RIGHT NOW!"

Police cars came alone with ambulances and fire trucks and news trucks.

"Come on, Grover. Let's go up there and help Percy," I said.

Grover bleated nervously, but agreed. We pushed our way forward.

"Everyone, stand back!" The police ordered to the screaming crowd.

Hundreds of people scooted back, squishing us and ushering us way back. It was impossible to get through the thick crowd and the police now!

A newswoman started talking in front of a camera. "This is Katie from Channel Two News in front of the Gateway Arch. An explosion has just happened, blowing up part of the Arch…"

More news people came. "This is Mark from the Channel Eight News. We are standing in front of the famous Gateway Arch, honored for being the tallest national monument in America, where an explosion has just occurred. Now, it might be too early to tell what exactly happened…"

Suddenly, a tram came down and out stepped a family of three with pale faces and a park ranger, all of them shaking. They were in hysterics and stuttering.

"Someone, get these people a doctor!"

Percy wasn't with them.

I panicked. Where was Percy? I prayed hard that he hadn't gone to Hades the harder way.

_Percy, where are you?_


	12. Chapter 12

**Yes, I finally have chapter twelve! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own the PJO series or characters.  
**

Chapter 12

Helicopters, police cars, ambulances, and news reporters kept arriving.

Percy still wasn't here.

Grover and I started to panic.

The newswoman continued with her report. "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious. We're trying to get some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the arch."

Wait… what? Someone fell from the arch? That had to be Percy! Oh, no! "Percy fell off from the arch," I choked out to Grover.

"I hope he didn't make the trip to Hades suddenly very quick," Grover whimpered, pacing back and forth nervously.

"Witnesses believe the cause of the explosion was by an adolescent boy," another reporter said. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off the freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities, but you never know. The survivors will be checked upon for any injuries not seen by the eye."

That just made me even more nervous. What had really happened to Percy?

Suddenly, Grover cried out, "Annabeth, I think I saw him!"

I whipped my head around to wear Grover was pointing and saw a brown head making its way through the crowd.

"Come on!"

Grover ran over to Percy while I followed.

"Perrr-cy!" Grover cried.

The boy turned around and his green eyes lit up. Percy had survived!

Grover tackled Percy in a hug and said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"

I stood behind him and tried to look angry with him for causing such a commotion. But I was too relieved that Percy was alive to pull it off. "We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"

"Um… I sort of fell…" Percy said.

"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet!" It was a wonder he was still alive. I scanned around the Arch and saw a river by the Arch. Oh. That made sense.

"Gangway!" A cop shouted behind us. We jumped out of the way as paramedics hustled out and rolled a woman on a stretcher. She was one of the survivors.

"And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua-" The woman was stuttering.

Wait – the Chihuahua owned by the creepy lady. I knew it. I knew it. They were both monsters.

"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."

"I'm not crazy!" The woman protested, and I agreed with her. "This boy jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared." The woman glanced at Percy. _Oh, Styx_. "There he is! That's the boy!"

Percy stiffened and quickly turned away, pulling Grover and me after him. We disappeared into the crowd.

"What's going on?" I demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"

Percy looked around, and then nodded. "The woman and her Chihuahua- they were monsters. The woman was Echidna and the dog was Chimera."

My eyes widened in horror. The Chimera was a monster composed of different animals: a head from a lion, a body and hooves of a goat, and a tail of a snake. He was really dangerous. Echidna was Chimera's mother, which made sense since Echidna was mother of all monsters. She was half nymph and half snake. Truly, she was an ugly sight. She had scaly green skin and eyes like a reptile's.

Grover whimpered. "How did you defeat them?"

"Um…" Percy said sheepishly. "I didn't exactly defeat them…"

Oh, great. Now the monsters were still out there somewhere.

"Hey, it's not my fault!" Percy said, interpreting my look. "The Chimera breathed fire and I dropped my sword! I didn't have any way to defeat him! He already blew a hole in the monument. I didn't want the mortals to get hurt, so I… jumped. I figured if I went away, the monsters would also go away and leave the mortals alone."

At least he was right about the monsters going away.

"Anyway," he continued, "I jumped into the river, and so I obviously survived. The water healed the poison from the Chimera. I got back Riptide when I heard this woman's voice. I knew I wasn't imagining it. She appeared and she was like a ghost in the current. She had long billowing hair and green eyes." Percy paused. "She looked like… like my mom… but she obviously wasn't her."

Percy seemed so sad. I felt bad for him.

Percy continued with his story. "She was a messenger. She told me that my dad wants me to go to Santa Monica before we go into the Underworld."

"Whoa," Grover said. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."

I agreed with Grover. If Percy ignored any god's summoning, even his dad's, he'd be in big trouble. Before I could respond, though, we passed another reporter who said, "Percy Jackson. That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. _And_ the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."

We stopped dead in our tracks. That wasn't good. We quickly escaped into an empty alley.

"First things first," Percy said. "We've got to get out of town!"

"I second that," I said.

Grover nodded.

* * *

We walked back to the train station, trying to act as inconspicuous as possible. It worked. We didn't get spotted. We boarded the train just before it departed for Denver. We had to keep our profile low for the time being.

Seven days before the summer solstice, June 14th, we arrived at Denver. We were starving and looked like a mess. I tried to lighten everyone's mood and suggested we contact Chiron.

"I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit," I explained to Percy.

"We can't use phones, right?" Percy asked, confused.

"I'm not talking about phones," I said. "Follow me."

I led Percy and Grover around town looking for a do-it-yourself car wash, preferably an empty one. But if we had to resort to one with people, I could take care of that.

Finally, we came across an empty do-it-yourself car wash. We chose the stall that was farthest from the streets and looked out for police. If any police person saw three battered kids in a car wash with no car, they would stop us right away. Then they would see Percy and recognize him as the adolescent kid who blew up the monument. Not good.

Grover took out the spray gun.

"What exactly are we doing?" Percy asked, bewildered.

We ignored him.

"It's seventy-five cents," Grover grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"

I shook my head. "Don't look at me. The dining car wiped me out."

Percy reluctantly gave Grover a quarter.

"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."

"What are you talking about?" Percy asked again. I rolled my eyes. Was it not obvious?

Grover put in the quarters and set the knob to _Fine Mist_. "I-M'ing."

"Instant messaging?" Percy asked, confused.

_No! Gods, does it look like we're going on the computer? Think, Percy! Why do we need water? _"Iris messaging." I said. "The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."

"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?" Percy asked.

I officially gave up on answering anymore of Percy's stupid questions.

Grover pointed the spray gun in the air and sprayed out the water. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."

Finally, a rainbow formed. I held my palm out to Percy. I knew he had a drachma from Medusa's place. "Drachma, please," Percy handed it over.

I raised the drachma over my head and chanted, "O goddess, accept our offering." I threw the drachma into the rainbow, watching it disappear in a golden shimmer. "Half-Blood Hill," I commanded. Chiron had to be there!

Camp Half-Blood showed up. The familiar strawberry fields and Long Island sound were in the distance, and we were looking at the Big House. I relaxed at the familiar surroundings.

Standing on the porch was not Chiron, as I expected. It was a boy holding a sword and staring out in the meadow. It was…

"Luke!" Percy called.

Luke turned around and grinned. I blushed. "Percy! Is that Annabeth too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"

I knew I looked like a mess. Embarrassed, I hurriedly straightened my t-shirt and fixed my hair. "We're… uh… fine," I stammered. "We thought-Chiron-I mean-" Where was Chiron?

"He's down at the cabins," Luke said, his smile fading. "We're having some issues with the campers. Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"

"I'm right here," Grover called, holding out the nozzle to the side and stepping in front of the rainbow. "What kind of issues?" He asked.

Just then, a car pulled into the car wash. The stereo was turned on so loud on hip-hop that the pavement shook.

"Chiron had to-what's that noise?" Luke yelled.

"I'll take care of that!" I yelled back. Honestly, I was relieved to get out of sight. I looked so messy. "Grover, come on!"

"What?" Grover said. "But-"

I couldn't shut that person up without Grover. "Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" I ordered.

Grover reluctantly gave Percy the spray gun and followed me. We went over to the stall where a man in probably his twenties was sitting in his car and dancing (horridly) to the beat.

I tried the sweet approach first. "Hello. Um, we're having a problem over in the next stall, so could you please turn your music down?"

The man turned and looked at me. "Aren't you too young to be alone?" He asked.

Okay, obviously the sweet approach didn't work. "Well, if you don't turn off that music, I _will_ do something to you that I won't regret!" I yelled.

"Oh, yeah? What's a little girl like you going to do to me?" The man taunted.

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't call me a little girl!" I yelled and pulled out my knife. I opened his car door and held it above him.

The man's eyes widened and with his shaking hand, reached his hand over to the volume knob and turned the music down drastically.

"Now, you see, that's not good enough," I said. "Turn it off."

"Why should I?" The man asked defensively. _Smart thing to say to a girl holding a knife over your head._

That's when I pulled Grover into the play. "Do you see this boy right here?" I asked, pointing to Grover. Grover whimpered quietly and shuffled around.

The man nodded suspiciously.

"This boy, he has this disease. It's called… soundblareitis."

Grover looked at me with raised eyebrows, mouthing soundblareitis.

I gave him a look that said, _Just play along!_

"Have you heard of soundblareitis?" I asked. I went on, not waiting for an answer. "Well, it's this horrible disease. Of course, music does nothing to help it. Whenever he hears music, he goes on a rampage. Horns start sprouting from his head."

I looked at Grover, tilting my head to tell him to take off his cap. He complied, revealing his horns,

The man's eyes widened.

"Oh, that's not even the beginning. If it gets really bad, his feet pop off," I said.

Grover raised his foot and popped off one of his fake human feet.

The man's look turned to horror.

"Then, he goes on rampages and destroys anything in his path," I said. I looked at Grover and motioned him to knock me down.

Grover bleated, "Ay-ay-ay!" He ran over to me and knocked me down. As I was falling down, I discretely took my hat out of my pocket and shoved it on, turning invisible. I hit the ground. Ouch. The man hadn't seen me put on my cap. He was too busy looking at Grover.

When the man finally looked down, he didn't see me. "What did you do to her?" he asked, his voice trembling.

Grover turned and looked at the man. "Ay-ay-ay! Me hungry!" He bleated.

The man screamed. He shut off his music, slammed his car door shut, and drove out of the car wash.

I reappeared and shoved my hat in my pocket. Grover and I started laughing hysterically. We high-fived.

"Good job," I said.

"You too," Grover said.

Laughing, we rounded the stall to where Percy was. Then we saw his face. Percy looked bewildered, sad, and confused.

"What happened, Percy?" I asked, my smile fading. "What did Luke say?" _Did he say anything about me?_

"Nothing much," Percy said. I could tell he was leaving something out. "Come on, let's find some dinner."

Seeing how hungry I was, I complied and let the subject drop now.

**Ta-da! End of 12th chapter! Hope you liked it!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Ha ha! I have finished chapter thirteen! :) Yay, school's almost over! Can't wait!**

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians  
**

Chapter 13

We sat in a booth in a gleaming chrome diner. I had no idea how we were going to pay for the food, but I was too hungry to think it through at that moment.

A waitress came over. She raised her eyebrows skeptically and asked, "Well?"

"We, um, want to order dinner," Percy said.

"You kids have money to pay for it?" The waitress asked.

I was ready to pass out from hunger. Grover's lower lip quivered. Percy looked like he was thinking of a dumb sob story about more circus caravans.

Suddenly, the building shook. A huge (I mean huge, huge) motorcycle pulled up to the curb. The motorcycle had flames painted on its gas tank and a leather seat. A shotgun holster riveted to either side with real shotguns.

All the conversation in the diner stopped. Everyone stared at the guy on the motorcycle. The man was huge, like his motorcycle. He had a hunting knife strapped to his thigh and red wraparound shades. He had the cruelest face ever. He wore a red muscle shirt and black jeans.

I knew who he was. He was Ares, the god of war. I had seen him many times when I went on trips to Olympus. I grew worried. Why was Ares here? What did he want?

As Ares entered the diner, everyone rose in his "godly presence". Whatever. Ares waved his hand dismissively and the people sat down again, going back to their conversations.

The waitress blinked. She acted like nothing happened and asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"

Ares walked up. "It's on me," he said. He slid into our booth and crowded me up the window. I wasn't comfortable at all. I grew angry. Why did he have to crowd me up against the window? What was wrong with him? I fought to keep my emotions under control, knowing Ares' presence was affecting me.

Ares looked up at the waitress. She was gaping at him. "Are you still here?" he asked. He pointed at her and she stiffened. She spun around and marched back towards the kitchen.

I grew mad at Ares for placing charms on innocent people, but kept my emotions under control.

Ares looked at Percy. He grinned wickedly and said, "So, you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"

Percy glared at Ares. Ares was affecting Percy, too, but Percy couldn't keep his anger down. "What's it to you?"

I flashed Percy a warning with my eyes. "Percy, this is-"

Ares raised his hand. "S'okay. I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"

Percy thought. Wow, if Percy didn't know this, Ares would be so mad. I wondered what would happen if Percy guessed Aphrodite…

"You're Clarisse's dad," Percy said. "Ares, god of war."

Ares grinned and took off his shades, revealing fire in place of his eyes. "That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."

"She was asking for it," Percy defended.

"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for-I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."

Proposition? That couldn't be good. If Ares needed something from _kids _when he was a god and could probably do it by himself… then something would be wrong.

The waitress came back with trays heaping with cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes. It looked so good!

Ares handed her some gold drachmas.

The waitress looked nervously at the coins. "But these aren't…"

Ares pulled out his huge knife and started to clean his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"

I was horrified. Ares couldn't just threaten people like that!

The waitress swallowed and left with the drachmas.

"You can't do that," Percy told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."

Ares cackled. "Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta. Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favor."

"What favor could I do for a god?" Percy asked.

I munched on my onion rings nervously.

"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little… date with my girlfriend. We were interrupted. I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me," Ares said.

He was on a date with his girlfriend, Aphrodite? What interrupted them so that Ares would leave his shield behind?

"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?" Percy asked.

_Wrong thing to say, Percy. _

"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it. A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" Ares leaned forward. "Or, maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."

Percy looked angry. He looked like he was going to punch Ares. However, he didn't. "We're not interested," he said. "We've already got a quest."

Ares glared at Percy and Percy winced. Percy looked like he was in pain and seeing things against his will.

"I know about your quest, punk," Ares sneered. "When that item was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally. If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful…" Ares licked his lips, contemplating the master bolt as if he dreamed for it and wanted it. Disgusting. "Well… if I couldn't find it, you got no hope. Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt."

_Gee, thanks Ares._

"Your dad and I go way back," Ares continued. "After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicion about old Corpse Breath."

Oh, great. So it was all Ares' fault that we had to go all the way west to Hades.

"You told him Hades stole the bolt?" Percy asked.

"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately. In a way, you got me to thank for you little quest."

"Thanks," Percy mumbled sarcastically.

"Hey, I'm a generous guy," Ares said. "Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."

"We're doing fine on our own," Percy protested. We all knew that wasn't the truth.

"Yeah, right," Ares scoffed. "No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."

"My mom?" Percy asked with his face filled with hope. I felt bad for him. His mom sounded really nice, and now she was gone.

Ares grinned devilishly. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."

"What interrupted your date?" Percy asked. "Something scare you off?" I held back my snicker.

Ares bared his teeth. I noted he looked a little nervous, though. I wondered what was wrong.

"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am." Ares said.

_Obviously not, since your rudeness is ten times worse than theirs._

"I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me," Ares said. Then, he vanished. He just disappeared into thin air, taking his motorcycle with him.

Percy looked confused while Grover and I looked grim.

"Not good," Grover muttered. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."

Percy stared out the window. He seemed in shock.

"It's probably some kind of trick," Percy concluded. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."

As much as I would like to agree with him, we couldn't just ignore Ares. "We can't. Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."

Percy looked down. "Why does he need us?"

"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," I reasoned. "Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."

"But this water park," Percy protested, "he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"

Grover and I glanced nervously at each other. Percy made a good point. We had no idea. We would have to be careful.

"I'm afraid we'll have to find out," I said.

* * *

It took way too long to find the water park. By the time we did, the sun was already setting. Darn Ares for making us behind!

The water park was old and abandoned. I mean _really _old and abandoned. Water slides and pools were water-less and tickets and advertisements were scattered all over. There was a sign that had once read WATERLAND but now read WAT R A D. Watrad. Why would anyone want to go to a place like that?

The main gate was locked and topped with barbed wire. Why? No offense, but I doubted Watrad had anything worth stealing. And if someone broke in to vandalize something… no one would care and it wouldn't even make that much of a difference.

"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date, I'd hate to see what she looks like," Percy remarked.

"Percy," I warned. "Be more respectful." _At least try to!_ If Aphrodite ever found out what Percy said, she would make Percy's love life very painful… not like I would care.

"Why?" Percy asked. "I thought you hated Ares."

"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental." I said. I have had experience seeing Aphrodite blow up if someone insulted her looks. Hey- I wasn't the one who insulted her! Don't think that.

Okay… maybe I was… But I was young at that time! It was my first trip to Mount Olympus. I was eight. I saw Aphrodite sitting in her throne with all her artificial makeup. It really disgusted me.

"_I don't think Aphrodite's all that pretty," I whispered to Luke._

_Makeup disgusted me at that time, and it still does. Besides, if Aphrodite was the goddess of beauty, why would she need to put on makeup? Wouldn't she be beautiful without the makeup? Whatever…_

_Aphrodite heard me, and she flared up. "Excuse me, but what did you just say?" She asked._

"_I just don't think you're all that pretty as people say," I said, not getting the warning looks from Chiron and Luke's eyes. I thought they were encouraging me to go on! "I mean, if you were really pretty, why would you even need all that makeup?"_

_Aphrodite glared at me. Her face turned red with rage and she started glowing. She was going to turn into her true form. I squeezed my eyes shut and looked away, knowing that if I looked, I would be vaporized. She started screaming threats at me about how my "love life will be very hard" and I will "find people blocking the path" to my love and me. I didn't really care about her threats, though. But she sounded really angry. I knew never to mess with her again… or any of the gods._

"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover said, snapping me back to the conversation.

"Who is she?" Percy asked. "Echidna?" I shook my head, exasperated. How could Percy not now Ares' girlfriend? It was really old news.

"No, Aphrodite," Grover corrected with a dreamy look on his face. "Goddess of love."

_Move on, Goat Boy. She's a goddess. You're a satyr._

"I thought she was married to somebody. Hephaestus," Percy said.

"What's your point?" Grover asked.

"Oh." Percy was silent and shifted around uncomfortably. "So… how do we get in?" He asked, attempting to change the subject.

"_Maia_!" Grover shouted. His shoes sprouted wings. No fair!

Grover flew over the fence, but did an unintended somersault in midair. He stumbled to a landing on the opposite side of the fence, then dusted off his jeans, trying to act cool like he planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?" he asked.

Percy and I had to climb up the fence, no thanks to Grover's help.

When we finally got to the other side of the fence, we started searching for the Tunnel of Love ride.

**Finished! ... with that chapter... there's still much more to go! I will update as soon as possible!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Sorry I haven't updated! My internet connection was down for some unknown reason. :(**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series**

Chapter 14

Waterland –or should I say Watrad- had the weirdest rides. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit? I was disgusted. Who would want to go on rides named like that? No wonder the water park closed down.

We walked by a souvenir shop tat was left open. My eyes grew wide. There were tons of souvenirs on the shelves: snow globes, balls, pencils, postcards, key chains, and not to mention clothes!

I gazed at the clothes. I hadn't had a change of fresh clothes for a long time!

"Clothes," I breathed. "Fresh clothes."

"Yeah," Percy said, "But you can't just-"

I scoffed. Percy did not know me well enough.

"Watch me," I said. I snatched whatever could fit in my arms and walked into a changing room.

I changed into the Waterland clothes. It felt so good having a fresh change of clothes instead of grimy, dirt covered clothes. I then stuffed a Waterland backpack with all the other stuff I had snatched. I slung the backpack over my shoulder and walked out.

"What the heck," Grover shrugged. He and Percy followed my lead and pretty soon, we all had a change of fresh clothes and looked like crazy tourists.

We continued our search for the Tunnel of Love.

Percy was growing uncomfortable. "So… Ares and Aphrodite, they have a thing going?" Percy asked.

Percy obviously wasn't comfortable with the idea of gods dating other gods even though they're married. "That's old gossip, Percy. Three-thousand-year-old gossip." So get over it!

"What about Aphrodite's husband?" Percy asked.

"Well, you know," I said. "Hephaestus. The blacksmith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus. So he isn't exactly… handsome. Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"

"She likes bikers," Percy pointed out.

"Whatever."

"Hephaestus knows?" Percy asked.

"Oh, sure," I said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net, and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them. Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like…"

I trailed off and looked straight ahead. "Like that."

It was the Tunnel of Love. It was a huge empty pool with dozens of bronze Cupid statues around the rim. A tunnel was opened up on the opposite side from us where water once flowed. A sign read, "Thrill Ride O' Love: This Is Not Your Parents' Tunnel Of Love!"

Grover shuffled toward the edge. "Guys, look."

A pink and white boat for two was at the bottom of the empty pool. On the left seat laid Ares' shield.

"This is too easy," Percy said. "So we just walk down there and get it?"

I wasn't paying attention to him. I ran my fingers along the base of a Cupid statue. On it was a Greek letter. Eta.

"There's a Greek letter carved here," I murmured. It looked like an upper case H and lower case N. "Eta. I wonder…" What did Eta mean again? I wracked my head, trying to remember.

"Grover, you smell any monsters?" Percy asked.

Grover sniffed. "Nothing."

"Nothing-like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"

_Shut up, Percy. You can't even tell if monsters are present or not, so you shouldn't be talking._ I thought, instantly jumping to Grover's defense.

Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Percy apologized. He took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."

"I'll go with you," Grover offered, though he didn't sound too enthusiastic.

"No," Percy said. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."

Grover puffed up his chest. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"

"I don't know," Percy confessed. "Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me-"

WHAT? Was he out of his mind? "Are you kidding me?" I asked, my face turning a bright red. What if someone saw us on the Tunnel of Love? That would be so embarrassing! People would think we... _liked_ each other, which we definitely _did not_!

"What's the problem now?" Percy demanded.

Was he really that clueless? "Me, go with you to the… the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?" I asked. I knew that was a little harsh, but I did not want to be seen with Seaweed Brain on a love ride.

"Who's going to see you?" Percy asked, his face now bright red too. "Fine, I'll do it myself."

I fought with myself, deciding whether to go or not. I finally followed him, mumbling, "Boys always mess everything up."

When we reached the boat, we saw Ares' shield and Aphrodite's silk scarf. It was her magic scarf. It was filled with dangerous love magic.

Percy picked up the scarf. He smiled dreamily.

I snatched the scarf away from him before he could do something stupid like put it on and make someone fall in love with him. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."

"What?" Percy asked.

"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here," I said, eager to leave before anyone could see me.

Percy sighed and went to get the shield while I inspected the boat. There was another letter on the side. Another Eta. I suddenly remembered what Eta meant. It was "H" in Greek. H stood for Hephaestus. Hephaestus, who always tried to catch his wife with Ares. This was a trap.

"Wait," I called out to Percy. Did he take the shield yet?

"Too late," Percy said. Darn!

"There's another Greek letter on the side of this boat, another Eta. This is a trap," I said.

Noise erupted. Millions of gears grinded.

"Guys!" Grover yelled.

The Cupid statues were drawing their bows in a firing position. They shot the bows, but they weren't aiming at us. They fired at each other, across the pool. The cables formed a huge golden asterisk. Smaller metallic threads weaved together and formed a net.

"We have to get out," Percy said.

"Duh!" I said. Did he think we would just sit, smile, and wave while the Cupids were trapping us?

Percy grabbed the shield and we tried to run, but the pool was too slopped and we couldn't get up.

"Come on!" Grover shouted.

He was struggling to hold open a section of the net for us so we could get out, but wherever he touched it, the threads would wrap around his hands.

Video cameras popped out from the cupids' heads. Spotlights rose around the pool. A loudspeaker boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute… Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight…"

"Hephaestus!" I screamed. Curse you! "I'm so stupid. Eta is 'H'. He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"

I started panicking. But that wasn't all of it. A row of mirrors opened and spiders poured out. I screamed.

"Spiders! Sp-sp-aaah!" I fell backwards in terror. Percy caught me and dragged me away back towards the boat.

The creepy, disgusting things crawled all over the place. I winced and squeezed my eyes shut. My heart was pounding. I was scared of spiders. Arachne and Athena did not have the best relationship.

Arachne was a very vain and stuck-up snob… er… girl. She believed she was the best at weaving and could beat my mother. Obviously, Athena was way better at weaving than Arachne, but Arachne challenged her to a weaving contest. Athena weaved the Parthenon and her contest with Poseidon while Arachne weaved the mistakes of gods and mocked them. Athena was offended by this and cursed Arachne by turning her into a spider. Ever since, Arachne's children have been taking revenge. The creepy bugs would find me if I was a mile near them.

I squirmed as the spiders marched forward and completely surrounded us. I winced and shook as the spiders touched me.

Percy and I climbed into the boat. Percy started to kick the spiders away as they swarmed around.

"Help me, Annabeth!" Percy yelled.

I squeezed my eyes shut and gave a little kick. I was too scared to do anything but scream.

"Thirty, twenty-nine," The loudspeaker continued to count down.

The evil spiders started to spit out strands of metal thread to tie us down. It was really scary.

We continued to fend off the spiders as the loudspeaker counted down. Suddenly, Percy yelled, "Grover! Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"

"But-" Grover started to protest.

"Do it!" Percy insisted.

Suddenly, as the speaker reached zero, water exploded out of the pipes and came crashing through the pool, sweeping away the spiders and making the short-circuit. I was relieved at that. But at the back of my mind, I kept reminding myself that it was too late. We were being broadcasted to Olympus.

We spun around in the boat around a whirlpool. I glanced nervously at Percy out of the corner of my eye. He looked really focused and his face was hardened in a look of total concentration. Suddenly, the boat started to steer away and flew and towards the tunnel into darkness.

The boat was going really fast. Percy and I held tight and screamed as we rocketed past corners and sappy Valentine's Day things.

Then we were in the light, out of the tunnel. The boat was going straight towards the exit, where it would lead us back towards the pool. There was one problem: the gates were closed in front of the pool, preventing us from getting out. Two boats in front of us were smashed. That would happen to us if we didn't think of something, fast.

I wracked my brain trying to think of a plan. Surprisingly, it was Percy who came up with an idea first.

"Unfasten your seat belt!" Percy yelled.

What? Seat belts were the things keeping us safe! "Are you crazy?"

"Unless you want to get smashed to death!" Percy yelled as he strapped Ares' shield to his arm. "We're going to have to jump for it."

Jump for it? Then I understood. Percy got the idea that as the boat struck, the force would be enough to have us jump over the gate and luckily land in the pool. I unbuckled my seat belt and gripped Percy's hand as we approached closer and closer to the gate.

"On my mark." Percy commanded.

No! Percy would mess everything up! Even if he had the idea, he wouldn't know when to jump. By the looks of it, it looked like he wanted to jump too soon. If we did, we would crash into the gates.

"No! On my mark!" I yelled.

"What?" Percy asked.

"Simple physics!" I yelled back. "Force times the trajectory angle-"

"Fine!" Percy shouted, interrupting my lecture. "On _your _mark!"

I hesitated and let us approach farther and farther. Finally, the position was right for the maximum lift. "Now!"

_Crack!_

We jumped. We catapulted upwards and over the gates. Unfortunately, the force was too much and we flew past the pool and towards solid ground.

Someone grabbed my from my arm. "OUCH!" I yelled as I was pinched.

It was Grover! He was wearing his flying shoes and had grabbed me from my arm and Percy by his shirt. Grover was trying to pull us up, but we were too heavy for him.

"You're too heavy!" Grover cried. "We're going down!"

We spiraled toward the ground and smashed into a photo-board. Grover's head went through a hole and became Noo-Noo the Friends Whale while Percy and I fell to the ground.

I was breathing heavily. I got up and dusted myself off. Percy and I ran over to Grover and pulled him out of the photo-board.

"Thanks, Grover," I said.

"Yeah, thanks for saving our lives," Percy repeated.

Percy looked behind him and suddenly shouted, "Show's over! Thank you! Good night!"

I turned around and watched the Cupids turn back to their original positions. The lights turned off and the park went quiet and dark again.

Percy looked mad. He hefted the shield on his arm and turned to us. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."

What was he going to do now?

* * *

We got back to the diner parking lot where Ares was waiting for us.

"Well, well. You didn't get yourself killed," Ares said.

"You knew it was a trap," Percy said.

_No, Ares had no clue at all._

Ares grinned wickedly. "Bet that crippled blacksmith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids. You look good on TV."

Percy shoved Ares' shield at him. "You're a jerk," he grumbled.

Grover and I caught our breath, waiting for a disaster to happen. Thankfully, it didn't.

Ares spun his shield like it was pizza dough and changed it into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back.

"See that truck over there?" Ares pointed to a truck across the street. "That's your ride. Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."

The truck had eighteen wheels. It had a sign on the back. Thankfully, the print was white on black, which was a good combination for dyslexia so I could read the sign. It read: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS.

_Really, Ares? You're a god. You could do so much better. You have got to be kidding me._

**Yes! That's the end of chapter fourteen! :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thanks for all your reviews! :)**

**Yay, school's FINALLY out! This school year actually seemed to go by pretty fast, though. Anyways, I'm sorry but I won't be updating from now on until early August because I'm going on vacation! :-o Yup, and I'm going to have to wake up at 4:00 am tomorrow for the plane ride! :( **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or else I wouldn't be writing this on fanfiction.**

Chapter 15

I stared at the truck with disbelief on my face. Beside me, Percy said, "You're kidding."

Ares snapped his fingers and the back door of the truck unlocked. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."

Ares threw a blue nylon backpack at Percy. Inside the bag were fresh clothes, twenty dollars, golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuff Oreos. Yum!

Of course, being the idiot that he is, Percy decided not to say thank-you and instead said, "I don't want your lousy-"

Grover cut Percy off before he could finish. "Thank you, Lord Ares. Thanks a lot."

Percy gritted his teeth but reluctantly slung the backpack over his shoulder. He turned to look at the diner. I looked back too.

The waitress who served us dinner was glancing over at us nervously through the window. She dragged a cook from the kitchen to the window and said something to him. The cook nodded and took a picture of us with a disposable camera.

Great. Another way for police to track us down.

"You owe me one more thing," Percy said to Ares. "You promised me information about my mother."

Again, I felt pity for Percy. He was so desperate about finding out anything he could about his mother.

"You sure you can handle the news? She's not dead," Ares said.

_What do you mean, "she's not dead"?_

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die. She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept," Ares said.

"Kept. Why?" Percy asked.

"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."

Who would take Percy's mom as a hostage? Zeus? Hades?

"Nobody's controlling me," Percy said.

Ares laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."

Percy balled his fists and glared. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."

_Um, Percy? Shut up right now!_

Ares' fire eyes glowed. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back." Ares rode down the street and disappeared from sight.

"That was not smart, Percy," I said.

"I don't care," Percy said. Stupid.

"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god." If Ares hated someone, he would curse them to make their battles much harder.

"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but…"

He pointed to the diner's register. There were two men paying for the check, both wearing black coveralls and a white logo on their backs that were the same on the truck.

"If we're taking the zoo express, we need to hurry," Grover said.

We dashed across the street and climbed into the truck, closing the doors behind us.

* * *

The smell was disgusting. It was overpowering.

It was really dark inside. Percy uncapped his sword and it cast a faint bronze light. As our eyes adjusted, we saw misery. There was one zebra, one lion, and one antelope in filthy metal cages.

There was a sack of turnips in the lion's cage. The lion wasn't touching the turnips since it was obviously the zebra and antelope's food. The zebra and the antelope, however, had gotten hamburger meat, the lion's food. The zebra's mane had chewing gum on it and the antelope had a dumb cheap silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL! What?

I felt really bad for the lion. I guessed nobody had wanted to get close to the lion in fear the lion would eat them. The lion's cage was way too small for him and his blankets were soiled. He was panting from the heat and had flies buzzing around him. He was so skinny that his ribs showed through his fur.

I felt pity for the animals, and I also felt anger. Anger at how the people were treating the animals.

Grover felt the same way, being the big animal lover he was. "This is kindness?" he yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"

He looked like he was going to go outside and beat the truck drivers with his reed pipes and Percy looked like he was going to help him. And if they were going, I wasn't going to stay behind. But before anyone could move, the truck started to move.

Grover tried to talk to the animals in goat talk, but they just looked at him sadly.

"I say we should just free them right now," I suggested.

"That won't do much good until the truck stops or they'll be running around here trampling us," Percy said. He glanced nervously at the lion and said, "Besides, I think the lion might eat us…"

"Fine," I muttered.

Percy looked around. "Do you know where the water jug is?"

I turned to my left and saw it. Wow, Percy was a bad searcher. "Right there," I said, pointing.

Percy refilled the animals' bowls with the water and used his sword to rearrange the food.

"You guys, get the balloon off of the antelope," Percy said.

As Grover calmed down the antelope, I used my knife and carefully cut the balloon off the antelope's horn.

I walked over to the zebra and said, "I'll cut the gum out of the zebra's mane, too."

But of course Percy had to disagree with that, too. "It's too risky with the truck bumping around."

I agreed and reluctantly sat down.

"Tell the animals we'll help them more in the morning," I said, looking back at Grover.

He nodded at muttered to the animals. When he finished, he curled up on a turnip sack and he wasn't silent after that. He must have gone to sleep.

I was feeling pretty hungry, so I opened the back of Double Stuff Oreos that Ares had given us. I nibbled on half of one while I thought about stuff on my mind. I thought back to the water park when I freaked out over the spiders. I felt embarrassed and sort of bad. I knew that mad us slow down on getting out.

"Hey," I said. "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Percy."

"That's okay," Percy said.

"It's just…" My mind flashed back to the images of spiders and I shuddered. "Spiders."

"Because of the Arachne story," Percy guessed. "She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?"

I nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since. If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me. I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you."

"We're a team, remember?" Percy said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying."

Apparently, Grover was still awake. "I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?" he mumbled.

Percy and I laughed.

I pulled apart another Oreo and handed Percy half. There was another thing on my mind. Percy had said that Luke didn't say anything in the Iris message, but was that true?

"In the Iris message… did Luke really say nothing?" I asked.

Percy was quiet for a wile. "Luke said you and he go way back." That was true. "He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."

A look of sadness crossed my face. Thalia got turned into a pine tree on Grover's last mission.

Grover let out a mournful bray.

"I should've told you the truth from the beginning," Grover said, his voice trembling. "I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."

I grew sad and concerned for Grover.

"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus," Percy said.

Grover nodded glumly.

"And the other half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp…" Percy looked at me. Finally, he figured it out. "That was you and Luke, wasn't it?"

I put down my uneaten Oreo and said sadly, "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were… amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us."

Grover sniffled. "I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp. Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue. We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves. I thought… I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker…"

Grover looked so ashamed and sad. I hated to see him that way. "Stop it," I said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."

"She sacrificed herself to save us," Grover said miserably. "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."

"Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind?" Percy asked. "That's not fair."

"Percy's right," I said. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the council says." Grover was really brave to take us along with him.

Grover kept sniffling though we kept trying to calm him down. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy."

I really wanted Grover to stop dissing himself. He needed to see what he did was good. "You're not lame. You've got more courage than any satyr I've ever met. Name one other who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here now."

I aimed a kick at Percy to back me up.

"Yeah," Percy said after he winced. "It's not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll b the one who finds Pan."

Wow, that was really nice of Percy to say that.

Grover sighed, satisfied. Then he fell asleep on the spot.

"How does he do that?" Percy marveled.

"I don't know," I admitted. "But that was really a nice thing you told him."

"I meant it," Percy said.

We rode in silence for a few more miles. I started to plan ahead what we would do when we got to Los Angeles.

"That pine tree bead," Percy suddenly said. "Is that from your first year?"

I looked down. I hadn't even realized I was rubbing my necklace.

"Yeah," I said. "Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress- now _that _was a weird summer…"

One year the Ares cabin had gotten mad that they lost capture the flag. They went overboard and lit a trireme on fire. Then a great fire started and we had to put it out. Yeah, thanks a lot Ares.

Another year, these centaurs visited camp. They were called the Party Ponies or something like that. They were really wild and out of control and drank a lot of root beer. Then one day, one of them decided there should be a prom, and the Party Ponies organized the whole thing. On the day of the prom, everyone –including the Party Ponies- dressed up to go to the prom. Well, the Party Ponies kind of went overboard with drinking root beer, got all hyper, destroyed everything, and needless to say, that was the first and last prom that ever happened at camp.

"And the college ring is your father's?" Percy asked.

I felt defensive again as my father was brought up. "That's none of your-" I stopped myself. I had promised myself to be nicer to Percy. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."

"You don't have to tell me," Percy said.

"No… it's okay," I took a shaky breath and started remembering what happened. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her… That's a long story."

Athena had helped my dad to study and gave him a gift of wisdom… not that he wasn't really wise before… The gift came in the form of the ring. Whenever he put it on, he would become wiser than he was before. He would remember things he learned better and know more trivial things.

"Anyway," I continued, "he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."

"That doesn't sound so bad," Percy remarked.

"Yeah, well… the problem was, I believed him. I tried to go home for the school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak. Monsters attacked. We argued. Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."

"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?" Percy asked.

I wouldn't meet Percy's eyes. The truth was, I had thought about it, but my final decision was always a no. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."

"You shouldn't give up," Percy said. "You should write him a letter or something."

Well, Percy should give up on trying to poke through my personal life. "Thanks for the advice," I said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."

We rode another few miles in silence.

"So if the gods fight, will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War?" Percy asked. "Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?"

I leaned my head against the backpack Ares had given us. My head hurt and I closed my eyes. I didn't even want to think about that and if it would happen. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."

"Why?" Percy asked, dumbfounded.

"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?" I snapped.

Percy didn't answer and I fell asleep.

* * *

When I woke up again, it was the morning. I sat up and rubbed my head warily. Then I noticed something was wrong. The truck wasn't moving. Oh, Styx! That was not good!

Grover was also awake. His eyes were wide.

"I think they're coming to check on the animals!" I said.

Grover ran up to Percy and shook his shoulder, waking him up. "The truck's stopped. We think they're coming to check on the animals!" he told Percy.

"Hide!" I hissed.

I put on my invisibility cap and vanished. Oh, gods. This was not good at all. I hoped with all my might we wouldn't be discovered.

**So sorry I won't be updating in a while after this! But don't abandon my story! Just check back in early August! Thank you!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I'm finally back! :) I'm sorry for such the long wait! Here's the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: No, I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  
**

Chapter 16

Grover and Percy dove behind feed sacks just before the doors opened and one of the truck drivers walked in.

"Man!" He waved his hand in front of his nose. "I wish I hauled appliances!" He poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes.

"You hot, big boy?" He asked the lion. Then he dumped the rest of the water in the bucket right on the lion's face.

The lion roared in anger, but the man just waved his hand and said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

The man threw a Happy Meal bag into the antelope's cage. I glared. Everyone, especially people who transported animals, should know that antelopes don't eat McDonald's!

The trucker smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of _you_ this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"

I couldn't believe this! Why did that man just treat those animals like that? I looked around and inspected the truck more. It was in such a bad condition. Almost as bad as the condition the animals were in. I knew then that the transport business couldn't be legal. I had to do something to drive away the guy inside, but what?

My eyes fell open the door. It was still open from when the man went in. In two seconds, I had run out of the truck.

Outside, it was bright. It was such a change from being inside a dark and stuffy truck. Squinting, I ran around to the front side of the truck and saw another man sleeping on the passenger's seat. Suddenly, I got an idea.

I banged the side of the truck loudly. It startled the man sleeping and woke him up. I heard the man inside yell, "What do you want, Eddie?"

I was already running back into the truck when Eddie responded, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"

I was back in the truck on the side when the guy named Maurice responded, "What are you banging for?"

I raised my fist again and banged the inside of the trailer.

"What banging?" Eddie yelled outside.

Maurice clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes. He went out of the truck saying, "Stupid Eddie is such an idiot! Why do I even put up with him? He doesn't do anything."

I ran over to where Percy and Grover were having and took of my cap. "This transport business can't be legal," I said.

"No kidding!" Grover said as he listened to what the animals were saying, another "super power" of satyrs. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers! We've got to free them!"

Grover looked over at Percy. I also did, grudgingly. But Percy just looked frozen with thoughts running through his mind. I almost waved my hand in front of his face when all of a sudden, Percy grabbed his sword and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage.

The zebra jumped out of the cage in one second, glad to be freed. He turned to Percy and bowed.

I was sort of confused and wondered why the zebra was bowing to Percy. Then I remembered how Poseidon created the horses. Zebras were somewhat related to horses, so therefore Percy could communicate with both zebras and horses.

Grover held up his hands and bleated a blessing to the zebra in goat talk.

Just then, Maurice poked his head inside the truck to check out the noise, and I feared we'd be discovered when the zebra leaped over Maurice and ran into the streets.

I heard screams, honks, and lots of chaos. We ran to the doors of the trailer and saw the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard with hotels and casinos. The sight was kind of funny. I mean, a zebra galloping by hotels and casinos? I wish I had a camera.

Maurice and Eddie ran after the zebra like crazy. Some policemen were trailing them, shouting, "Hey! You need a permit for that!"

"Now would be a good time to leave," I said as the police gained on Maurice and Eddie.

"The other animals first," Grover reminded.

Percy cut the rest of the locks with his sword. Grover gave each of them the same blessing as he had used on the zebra.

"Good luck!" Percy said to the animals. The antelope and lion jumped out of their cages and into the streets.

This time, fewer people screamed. Most people just backed off and took pictures like this kind of thing happened all the time. Right, I was sure it did.

"Will the animals be okay?" Percy asked Grover. "I mean, the desert and all-"

"Don't worry. I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them," Grover said.

"Meaning?" Percy asked.

"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely. They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."

That sounded pretty good. Too bad it only worked on animals.

"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" Percy complained.

"Because it only works on wild animals," Grover explained.

"So," I said mischievously, "it would only affect Percy."

"Hey!" Percy protested.

"Kidding. Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck." I motioned for them to follow me.

I looked to see if anyone was staring at the truck. Finding it all clear, I jumped out with Percy and Grover following.

It was hot. Even hotter than when I stepped out before to knock on the truck's side. We snuck away from the truck and the crowd, whose attention was focused on the animals.

We didn't know where exactly we were going. We just walked away from the commotion. I was thinking to look for another way of transportation.

Suddenly, we found ourselves at a dead end. We gaped as we stood in front of a huge building with blinking lights. The entrance of the building was a huge neon flower that kind of was kind of weird. The sparkling chrome doors were opened. Air conditioning spilled out, refreshing me. The scent of flowers –lotus flowers- also spilled out. The building was the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

I was kind of suspicious. This place looked so classy. Why was it at a dead end most people would never turn to?

The doorman smiled at us and said, "Hey, kinds. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"

I was about to say no. There was something suspicious about this place. But of course Percy had to go and say that we would "love" to go in.

The doorman motioned us inside. When we walked in and my suspicions were forgotten. There were a ton of games in the lobby. Literally. The lobby was filled with games. There were tons of video games, roller coasters, those things where you sit down in a teacup and spin it faster and faster until you feel like barfing, water slides, bungee jumping, laser tag, and so much more.

I looked sideways at Grover and Percy. They eyes were wide and their jaws were basically touching the floor. They looked like they had died and gone to Elysium. On the other hand, none of the games I could see interested me in the tiniest bit. Were the any intellectual games?

"Hey!" a man yelled. We turned around to see a man who we assumed was a bellhop, but looked more like a tourist in Hawaii. The man ran up to us and said, "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."

_Wait, what?_

Percy stuttered and tried to get things straight. "'Um, but…"

"No, no," the bellhop laughed. "The bill's taken care of. No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or whatever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."

He gave us, a group of gaping kids, each a green plastic credit card.

I was about to return the credit card and said it was all a big mistake when Percy bluntly asked, "How much is on here?" I had to restrain myself from smacking Percy on the head.

The bellhop's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, when does it run out of cash?" Percy asked.

The bellhop laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."

As the bellhop walked away, I thought, _what was that about?_

Percy and Grover headed right away for the elevator, while I trailed behind, grumbling. We were on a QUEST, for Hades' sake. We didn't have time to rest at a hotel/casino and play games!

Once in the room, we blinked, stunned. The room had just as much of an impact as the lobby did. It was actually a suite that had three separate bedrooms and even a balcony with a hot tub. There was a bar over flowing with candy, soda, and chips.

"Oh, goodness. This place is…" I trailed off.

"Sweet!" Grover exclaimed. "Absolutely sweet!"

Grover ran as fast as he could to the potato chips. I decided to explore my bedroom. In the bedroom, there was a water bed. I actually had never seen a water bed before. I walked over to the closet and opened the door. Inside were fresh, clean clothes! Oh, good! The clothes I had "borrowed" from the water park had become very dirty, and I didn't feel like advertising a place filled with spiders for much longer. I fingered the clothes and looked at the size number. Weird. All of the clothes were my size.

I opened another door and saw it was a bathroom. In it was the hugest shower I ever saw. I looked down at my stringy hair and dirt covered body and decided to take a shower. It felt so good washing off all the dirt!

After I finished my shower, I changed and walked out of the bedroom. Grover was eating the bag of potato chips he had snatched. I saw the huge TV and turned it on to National Geographic. It was talking about antelopes. How ironic.

Ten minutes later, Percy came out of his bedroom. What took him so long? Grover had already eaten four bags of potato chips and was on his fifth one.

"What took you so long?" I asked.

Percy ignored me and tried to change the subject. "All those stations and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"

_I'm saner than you. _"It's interesting," I defended.

"I feel good," Grover said suddenly. "I love this place."

His good mood caused the wings on his shoes to sprout out and let him fly up a foot off the ground, before he went back down.

"So," I said, feeling a little tired, "what now? Sleep?"

Grover and Percy looked at each other, slowly grinning. They held up their cards at exactly the same time. How did they do that?

"Play time," Percy said. Great.

I decided it would be all right if I played a few games. We went down to the lobby.

I started looking for any games that would interest me. Too dumb. Too violent. What the heck was that?

I looked around and my eyes settled on a computer with a sign in front of it that read: _Just how smart are you really? You'll find with the Brain Game!_

I looked around to see if there was a line. Surprisingly, there wasn't. Feeling lucky, I ran up and started answering questions. I yawned. Those questions were _really _easy. In the end, a message popped up the screen reading: Wow! You know basically everything! Amazing!

I suddenly felt someone behind me. My hand instantly went to my knife as I turned around. A girl was standing behinds me. She smiled, but I could see there was something different about her.

"Do you mind if I play now?" she asked.

"Sure, go ahead," I said.

I looked back at the girl and realized it was her clothes. She was wearing a dress. Not like a sundress or anything like that, but more like a dress that girls would wear in the old days. Strange.

"Um, pardon me, but how do you use this device?" The girl asked.

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded. She didn't know how to use a computer?

The girl flushed. "Oh, never mind." She walked away, but before she left, I could hear her mutter, "All this stuff, I never saw it before I got here. You'd think I'd get used to it after basically two months.

I also walked away. The girl kept coming up in my head. The way she acted made it seem like she was… old, as in history old. But I soon forget that as I my eyes widened and I stared at the game in front of me.

An architect game! People could design and build their own city! It was amazing! It was like they knew exactly what I loved! I was already making plans for my city. Oh, this was going to be so much fun!

* * *

**Yeah, I didn't really know how girls in the old day acted, so... I might have been completely wrong. Sorry! I'll make the next chapter soon.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Okay, I just realized how bad my last chapter was. It was kind of rushed because I wanted to update, but in the process, I sort of made Annabeth OOC, so sorry about that! This chapter will hopefully be better!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO series! Stop asking me that!  
**

Chapter 17

I imagined my city. Would it be old and classic or modern and new? I decided to build a city that had a combination of both, but I needed to make it work. If I didn't, no one would even want to live there!

The gears started turning in my head. I asked for some sketch paper and a pencil. When I got them, I started sketching out the city. I drew skyscrapers next to old tall building, apartments next older apartments, arched bridges across from old flat bridges, and more. When I looked at my finished result, I crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it into the trashcan. It looked horrible!

Taking another piece of sketch paper, I came up with another idea. A Greek city! I began drawing tall buildings with a triangular roof held up by lots of columns and pillars that were visible from the outside. I added in trees, the sky, and the ground. I drew houses and apartments and towers. I added so many buildings that I didn't have enough space on my paper. Then, I began to build.

I was unaware that all my memories of the quest, of the summer solstice, and of the strange girl were fading. I was also unaware if I stayed for very long, I would soon forget everything. Looking back, I felt ashamed of myself.

I looked at the 3-D game and the display board. Then I looked at a computer. I sat down in front of the computer and started inputting mathematical formulas. I figured that the paper was a thirtieth of the actual display board's size. I soon figured out the dimensions and started creating the buildings.

I created building after building. From time to time, I would look at the display board and swell with pride as I saw the city come to life. Suddenly, I realized the towers were all wrong. They were all exactly the same size and they were all too tall.

I adjusted the towers' heights and made them shorter, but all different height. I looked back at the display board and was satisfied.

Suddenly, a boy was next to me. Who was he? He had dark messy hair and really green eyes. I knew him, didn't I? …Oh yeah, Percy. I turned my attention back to the screen.

I was being shook. Gods, that was annoying. "Annabeth?"

I looked up to see Percy still there. "What?" _I said hi. Now can I just go back to building?_

"We need to leave," Percy said.

"Leave?" I was shocked. "What are you talking about? I've just got the towers-"

Percy cut me off. "This place is a trap."

I had gone back to designing and didn't respond until he shook my AGAIN. "What?" I asked.

"Listen. The Underworld. Our quest." Percy was just talking rubbish to me. I had no idea what he was saying. He probably wanted to get some food or something.

"Oh, come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes," I said. Then he could eat.

"Annabeth, there are people here from 1977. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever," Percy said.

"So? Can you imagine a better place?" There was free food, free games, free water beds, free TV, free everything!

Percy grabbed my wrist and yanked me away from the game, just as I was minutes away from finishing my city and seeing the result! What was wrong with him?

"Hey!" I screamed and slapped him.

Percy ignored the slap, which was kind of hard to do. He made me look directly into his eyes. Then he said, "Spiders. Large, hairy spiders."

I almost screamed. Spiders! Crawling towards me! A huge spider filled my vision, and it crawled towards me. I blinked and shook my head, cringing. Then, I remembered the incident back at the water park. Spiders were crawling towards Percy and me on the boat. I started remembering everything else, too. The gods, the quest, even the strange girl. Then I remembered how old-fashioned that girl seemed.

"Oh my gods," I gasped. "How long have we-"

"I don't know, but we've got to find Grover."

We ran around the lobby and finally found him playing Virtual Deer Hunter, which he loved because in that game, he was the _deer _shooting the _humans_.

"Grover!" Percy and I shouted.

Grover was completely unaware of us. "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"

_Okay, then…_

"Grover!"

Grover turned around and saw us. He aimed the plastic gun at Percy and clicked like Percy was one of the people on the game. I snickered, but I stopped when Percy looked at me.

I understood his message. Together, Percy and I dragged Grover away. His wings on his shoes sprouted and started to tug his legs back to the game.

"No! I just got to a new level! NOOOO!" Grover screamed.

The bellhop ran over to us desperately. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?" he asked.

"We're leaving," Percy told him.

"Such a shame," The bellhop said with a disappointed look in his eyes. "We just added an entire new floor full of games."

Percy looked like he was fighting with himself. He looked like he wanted to take the card. Before I could step on his toe, Grover reached out for the card.

I yanked back Grover's arm and said, "No, thanks."

We walked towards the door. I had to keep pushing a reluctant Grover. As we got nearer and nearer to the exit, the smell that lured us inside became stronger. I got an urge to stay here and not leave.

But before anything drastic happened, we burst out of the building and onto the sidewalk. I knew something was wrong. It was still afternoon, but the weather had completely changed. Suddenly, it was storming with lightning flashing all around. Zeus was mad.

Percy ran to the nearest newspaper stand to read the date. I followed him. It was thankfully the same year. But the date was June twentieth. As in, one day before the summer solstice. One day before war would break out if we didn't return the lightning bolt.

Last time I had checked, it was June 15th. Now it was the 20th. We had only stayed for what felt like on hour, but in reality, it was five days. Styx.

* * *

We needed a way of transportation, and we needed one, fast. Public transportation just couldn't cut it. A taxi? But where would we get the money to pay for it? It was three hundred miles away!

Then I remembered. Percy had asked the bellhop how much money was on our casino cards. The bellhop thought he was making a joke. Which meant, the casino card never ran out of money. On it was infinity dollars.

I wondered if taxis would accept casino cards. I thought I remembered someone using a casino card to get somewhere. I decided to try it out.

I hailed down a cab with Percy and Grover standing behind me and staring at me like I was crazy. I ignored their dumbfounded looks and motioned for them to get into the taxi.

"Los Angeles, please," I said to the taxi driver after I got in.

The driver raised an eyebrow as he chewed disgustingly on his cigar and looked at us. He was probably thinking we were three crazy kids. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front," he said.

"You accept casino debit cards?" I asked hopefully. If he didn't, we wouldn't have a way to get to Los Angeles.

The driver shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first."

I handed him my LotusCash card, hiding my smirk at what his face would look like once he swiped it.

The driver looked at me skeptically like he wasn't sure if he was getting punked.

"Swipe it," I said.

He did. His machine rattled and the lights flashed. An infinity symbol came up.

The driver gaped, his mouth hanging open like the people on those cartoons. He turned around and looked at us, his eyes ready to pop out of his head. "Where to in Los Angeles… uh, Your Highness?"

I smirked. Ha! _Your Highness._ I liked that. "The Santa Monica Pier." I ordered. I realized I could use this "Highness" thing to our advantage and straightened up. "Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."

The driver nodded. He pressed the acceleration pedal and took off with a look of determination on his face.

* * *

As we were speeding off to Los Angeles, Percy told us about one of his latest dreams.

"At first it was nothing unusual. I had to take a test while wearing a straitjacket," Percy said.

I snorted. "You have dreams of being forced to take tests in straitjackets before?"

Percy shifted uncomfortably. "Besides the point. Anyway, it started getting weirder when I looked next to me and saw a girl always wearing a straitjacket. She was like, punk and Goth. She had green eyes and freckles and…"

I realized who it was. "Thalia," I said.

Grover winced and Percy nodded.

"And then… um… Thalia said something like, 'Well, Seaweed Brain?' and…"

I smirked. "See, everyone knows your brain is made out of seaweed!"

Percy ignored me and went on. "She said, 'One of us has to get out of here.' So then, I was like, 'I'm going to give Hades a piece of my mind!'"

I restrained myself from laughing while Grover raised his eyebrows.

Flustered, Percy went on. "Then the straitjacket melted off me… I fell down through the classroom floor into that dark cavern, again with the pit and the spirits of the dead."

I raised my eyebrows. "You actually got back there?"

Percy nodded. "Yeah… Someone said, 'Percy Jackson. Yes, the exchange went well.' And, um… something like if I suspected anything. Oh… and there was another voice, too. I think I recognized it…"

"What did it sound like?" Grover asked.

Percy looked ashamed. "I can't remember… The servant said, 'Nothing, my lord.' And he said that I was ignorant…"

_The servant was right about that._

"I looked over to see who was talking, but no one was there. Then, the thing in the pit talked some more with the other person…"

"About what?" Grover asked anxiously.

Percy paused and thought hard. "That's just it. I can't remember. The Casino must have short-circuited my memory or something… The servant said something about stealing something and the voice said the servant had failed him… Anyways, they found out I was there and then the scene changed so I was in a throne room that had black marble walls and bronze floors. There was an empty throne made of human bones."

_Disgusting. Wait a second… that sounds like Hades'._

"At the foot of the dais…" Percy choked, "was my mother. She was frozen in a shimmering of gold light. I tried to go towards her, but my legs wouldn't move. My hands were turning into bones…"

"Is that all you can remember?" I asked.

Percy thought. "I remember that servant called the thing in the pit a name other than 'my lord'. It sounded like a special name… or title… I can't remember…"

I searched my brain for anything Percy could have been talking about. "The Silent One? The Rich One?" I suggested. "Both of those are nicknames for Hades."

"Maybe…" Percy said, although I could tell he didn't think those were right.

"That throne room sounds like Hades'," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."

Percy just shook his head. "Something's wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit… I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice…"

"_It didn't feel like a god's voice"… if it wasn't a god's voice… what could it have been? … "Didn't feel like a god's voice"… wait… wasn't Kronos' body scattered across a pit in Tartarus after Zeus defeated him? And Kronos wasn't a god… he was a titan… No!_

I hadn't noticed I had a look of pure shock on my face until Percy asked, "What?"

"Oh… nothing," I said quickly. "I was just-" I cut myself off and forced myself to stop thinking it was Kronos. "No, it _has _to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong-" I was more trying to convince myself that was true than anyone else.

"Like what?" Percy asked.

"I-I don't know," I admitted. "But if he stole Zeus' symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong. So this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."

Percy stared at my strangely. What was it? Did I have some weird thing of my face or something? Then Percy said, "But if I'd already retrieved the bolt, why wouldn't I be traveling to the Underworld?"

"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."

I couldn't believe Grover actually thought of something like that, being the peace and animal loving goat he was.

Percy whistled. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."

"Why, thank you," Grover grinned.

"But the thing it the pit said it was waiting for _two _items," Percy argued. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"

That's when it all hit me. The Furies weren't asking for the bolt on the bus, they were asking for Hades' Helm of Darkness. It was with him on the Winter Solstice. Someone could have easily stolen it when no one was watching. The voice wanted both the Helm of Darkness and the Master Bolt.

I looked at Percy and sensed what his next question would be. I hoped he wouldn't ask it.

"You have an idea what might be in the pit, don't you? I mean, if it isn't Hades?" Percy asked me.

"Percy…" I said. I didn't want to think about the possibility of Kronos being the voice in the pit. "Let's not talk about it. Because if it isn't Hades…" That would be bad. "No. It has to be Hades."

Percy laid off and I found myself worrying about the voice in the pit

* * *

**Dun-Dun-Dun! Annabeth's cluing in! The next chapter will be coming soon! I'm so glad it's summer vacation! :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**I realized how lame my title and summary are, so I changed them both! :)**

**Disclaimer: Sigh. I don't own the characters in this story!  
**

Chapter 18

I could tell Percy was still concerned about his dream by the way he was fidgeting in his seat.

"The answer is in the Underworld," I said, trying to convince Percy and myself. "You saw spirits of the dead, Percy. There's only one place that could be. We're doing the right thing." However, that didn't seem to work. Even Grover looked skeptical.

"Hey, don't worry, guys," I said in a fake cheery voice. "Um… why don't we plan out what we'll do to get into the Underworld? Well, we obviously can't sneak in without getting noticed. We obviously have to pretend we're dead."

They weren't responding. I sighed. I didn't want them to be all depressed. Then we wouldn't be able to focus. What would cheer them up?

"Hey, we can say… we drowned in a bathtub!" I suggested. Then I mentally erased that thought. What a stupid idea.

Percy and Grover didn't even look like they were listening, which was good. I didn't want them to say that we all drowned in a bathtub. No one would believe _that_.

* * *

The taxi dropped us off at the beach in Santa Monica at sunset. I groaned and stretched from the long ride. I silently cursed Percy for having to be rivals with Zeus, and then looked around.

I just remembered how Poseidon summoned Percy here. We walked down the beach to the edge of the surf.

"What now?" I asked Percy, wondering what he was going to do.

Percy didn't answer. He started stepping into the surf.

"Percy? What are you doing?" I asked.

I watched, appalled, as Percy ignored me and kept up walking into the water.

"You know how polluted that water is?" I shouted after him, disgusted. "There're all kinds of toxic waste thrown in there. It'll poison you! Do you really want to go in?"

It was pointless shouting that. Percy hadn't even heard the last half of what I said, for he had completely gone under the water.

Well, then. Grover and I just stood there, not knowing what to do. Finally, we decided to discuss strategies for once we got into the underworld. How would we force Hades to give up the bolt? And if it turned out that he didn't have the bolt at all, what were we going to do?

Suddenly, something rose out of the water. Actually, _someone_ rose out of the water.

Grover and I hurried over to Percy.

"What happened?" We both asked at the same time.

"There was another woman down there," Percy explained. "She wasn't the same one as in the Mississippi river. Apparently, she was a Nereid. You know, a Nereid is a-"

"Yeah, yeah, a spirit of the sea," I said. "Go on."

"Well, she said she serves in Poseidon's court. And she said she's been watching me…"

_Like a stalker._

"Then, um… I sort of asked why my dad didn't come here to speak to me if he was so interested in me…" Percy mumbled sheepishly.

"Percy!" Grover and I groaned.

Percy grew defensive. "Well, I had a right to ask that! Anyway, she explained to me how gods aren't supposed to help their children directly and how they can't show favoritism or anything like that… Then, she gave me a gift. Three white pearls. Then she said if we are in great need, we should smash the pearls at our feet."

Percy held out his hands and showed us the three white pearls.

I grimaced, but not because I didn't want the pearls or anything. "No gift comes without a price," I warned.

"They were free," Percy said, looking at me weirdly.

"No." I shook my head. " 'There's no such thing as a free lunch.' That's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait." I knew there would be a price.

_I was back in Camp Half-Blood. At ten years old, I had already stayed at camp longer than some of my older siblings._

"_Hey, Annabeth!"_

_I turned around to see my older half-brother James running up to me. He was waving something in the air._

"_What?" I asked._

_James handed me what he was holding: a book. It wasn't just any book. It was the book everyone in camp really wanted: __The Hero of the Champions __(the Greek version)._

_My eyes widened. Right in front of my eyes was the book everyone, including me, dreamed to get after we heard about it._

"_It's for you!" James said._

_If I thought my eyes were wide before, then I never saw wide in my life. "Really?" I squeaked._

"_Sure!" James said. He handed the book to me and ran off._

_Now, at that time, I should have known something was up. James never did anything that nice for me. He more like always pranked me. But at that moment, I didn't think about it. I was more concerned about reading it._

_I ran back to my cabin and opened the book. I hadn't gotten past the first sentence when my siblings figured out what book I was reading._

"_Guys! Check it out! Annabeth has… _the book!_"_

"_No way!"_

"_Annabeth! Please let me read it!"_

"_Ha! You wish! Annabeth likes me way better, right Annabeth?"_

"_In your dreams! I'm Annabeth's favorite!"_

"_Give it to me!"_

"_No, ME!"_

"_Shut up!" I screamed. I ran out of the cabin and over to a grassy hill, which I sat down on._

_Unfortunately, my siblings started chasing me, screaming. "Annabeth! Please let me read __The Hero of the Champions__!" And even worse, they screamed so loud that others heard. It spread quickly around that I had the best book ever._

_People started cornering me and running after me, pleading for a chance to read the book when I hadn't even gotten back the first chapter. That's when they all surrounded me. _

_Almost everyone at camp circled around me, their hands flailing, their voices screaming. They wanted the book. Some people tried to grab the book from me. I was overwhelmed. I couldn't take it when…_

_RIP! THUD!_

_In the process of trying to take the book from me, people ripped the book into shreds and sent me flying backwards._

_Everyone grew quiet, realizing what happened. I jumped up, glared at everyone, and stormed back into my cabin._

I snapped out of that flashback and realized Percy and Grover had started leaving. I quickly ran after them and we went to find the Underworld.

* * *

We took the bus to West Hollywood. Percy tried to show the bus driver the Underworld address slip that he took from Medusa's, but the bus driver said he had never heard of DOA Recording Studios.

"Hey," the bus driver exclaimed, looking at Percy. "You remind me of somebody I saw on TV. You a child actor or something?"

"Uh…" Percy stuttered. "I'm a stunt double… for a lot of child actors."

"Oh! That explains it!" The bus driver said cheerfully. Wow. He was gullible.

We thanked him, and at the next stop, quickly got off.

We had to walk for miles looking for DOA. Nobody even knew where it was. It wasn't even in the phone book. Grover was getting hungry and Percy was whining.

After we came out of an alley for the second time (a result from hiding from police cars), Percy froze in front of an appliance store's window. He stared at the television on the news channel. On the screen was an ugly-looking man playing poker with a blond lady (who was much younger than him) sitting next to him. Why was Percy so interested in an old man? Then I realized. It was "Smelly Gabe".

A (fake) tear ran down his cheek. "Honest, Ms. Walters, if it wasn't for Sugar here, my grief counselor, I'd be a wreck. My stepson took everything I cared about. My wife…my Camaro…"

I snorted. His Camaro?

"I-I'm sorry. I have trouble talking about it."

"There you have it, America," Barbara Walters said, turning towards the camera. "A man torn apart. An adolescent boy with serious issues."

Serious issues? Wow, that's _so _nice.

"Let me show you, again, the last known photo of this troubled young fugitive, taken a week ago in Denver."

I immediately recognized the picture of Percy, Grover, Ares, and me taken outside the diner.

"Who are the other children in this photo?" Barbara Walters asked dramatically, which really annoyed me. "Who is the man with them? Is Percy Jackson a delinquent, a terrorist, or perhaps the brainwashed victim of a frightening new cult? When we come back, we chat with a leading child psychologist. Stay tuned, America."

I'd rather not.

"C'mon," Grover said to Percy. He dragged Percy away from the store, which was good, considering the fact that Percy looked like he was going to punch the window.

It was getting dark, quickly. We had to find the entrance to the Underworld if we were to finish the quest in time. We started hurrying.

As we ran past a dark alley, a voice shouted from it, "Hey, you."

Grover and I kept running, but Percy stopped. Great. Grover and I turned around and ran back to Percy, but before we could get him to go, we were surrounded. Ugh, thanks Percy!

The kids would be in the Ares cabin if they went to camp. They looked like they enjoyed picking fights.

Percy took out his sword. I hit my forehead with my hand. There's his second stupid move in the last two minutes.

The kids backed off when they saw the sword appear out of nowhere. But the leader didn't back off. He kept coming at Percy with a switchblade.

Then, Percy did his third stupid move in the last two minutes. He swung his sword.

The sword passed right through the screaming kid. The kid looked down and saw he was completely unharmed. "What the…"

"RUN!" Percy screamed at Grover and me.

We ran without giving another thought. Where were we going? The kids were going to run after us soon.

"There!" I cried.

I pointed to probably the only store on the street that was open.

"Crusty's Water Bed Place?" Grover said, looking slightly disgusted.

Oh… was that what it said? Well, excuse my dyslexia. But since we didn't have another choice, we ran inside and hid behind a water bid. A second later, we saw the kids running past the shop.

"I think we lost them," Grover panted.

"Lost who?" A voice boomed from behind us, causing us to jump.

We slowly turned around and saw a man who was probably eight feet tall and hairless. His skin was gray and leathery, and he had a cold reptilian-like smile. He was definitely not a normal guy.

"I'm Crusty," He said, smiling and revealing his yellow teeth.

_No kidding._

"Sorry to barge in," Percy said, edging towards the door. "We were just, um, browsing."

"You mean hiding from those no-good kids," Crusty grumbled. "They hang around every night. I get a lot of people in here, thanks to them."

That's when I realized we were the only ones in this shop.

"Say, you want to look at a water bed?" Crusty asked.

Before we had a chance to protest, Crusty put a hand –more like a huge paw- on Percy's shoulder and led us towards more water beds.

What was with all the water beds? Seriously, there was every type of water bed you could imagine. There was even a water bed that floated!

"This is my most popular model," Crusty boasted, spreading his hands proudly over a bed that was covered with black satin sheets. It had built-in Lava Lamps on the headboard and a vibrating mattress.

"Million-hand massage," Crusty said. "Go on, try it out. Shoot, take a nap. I don't care. No business today, anyway."

"Um…" Percy hesitated. Exactly what I was thinking. "I don't think…"

However, Grover was all up for the water bed. He dove on it and shouted, "Oh, you guys! This is cool."

"Hmm," Crusty said, looking at Grover and stroking his chin. "Almost, almost."

Almost? What was he talking about, almost?

"Almost what?" Percy asked.

Crusty looked at me. I backed away. He had a look in his eyes that I didn't like. "Do me a favor and try this one over here, honey. Might fit."

What did he mean, "Might fit"? "But what-" I started saying.

He patted my shoulder. I guessed he was trying to be reassuring, but that didn't work. He led me over to a Safari Deluxe water bed that hid lions carved into the frame and a leopard-patterned comforter.

"Come on. Lie down. Give it a try." Crusty said.

I stared at the bed. Why was Crusty so eager to have us lie down? "No, thanks. I'm fine, thanks," I said, trying to back away.

Crusty blocked my path. "No, really. I insist. It won't hurt!" First lie of the night.

"Really, I'm okay," I insisted.

Suddenly, Crusty reached out and pushed me onto the bed.

"HEY!" I yelled.

Before I could get up, Crusty snapped his fingers and shouted, "Ergo!"

What? Ergo, as in work? What was Crusty making work?

I soon got my answer. Ropes sprang up from the side of the bed and lashed around me, tying me to the mattress. WHAT? What was Crusty doing? I struggled against the ropes and tried to get up. It didn't work.

Grover also tried to get up, but more ropes sprang up from his bed and tied him down.

"N-not c-c-cool!" Grover yelped, his voice vibrating from the million-hand massage. "N-not c-cool a-at all!"

Crusty looked at me, then he turned to Percy and grinned. "Almost, darn it."

Percy tried to back away, but Crusty's hand shot out and clamped around the back of Percy's neck. "Whoa, kid," Crusty said. "Don't worry. We'll find you one in a sec."

"Let my friends go," Percy said.

"Oh, sure I will. But I got to make them fit, first."

_Fit? What does he mean, fit?_

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"All the beds are exactly six feet, see? Your friends are too short. Got to make them fit."

I winced. I wasn't looking forward to see exactly how he was planning to make us fit and started struggling more against the ropes.

"Can't stand imperfect measurements." Crusty muttered. "Ergo!"

Another set of ropes leaped out from the top and bottom of the beds and rapped around Grover and my ankles and arms. The ropes tightened. Then pain came. The ropes started pulling me from both ends. I winced as pain leaped through my spine.

"Don't worry," Crusty said. "These are stretching jobs. Maybe three extra inches on their spines. They might even live." _MIGHT?_ "Now why don't we find a bed you like, huh?"

"Percy!" Grover yelled.

The ropes continued pulling on us. I felt like a rope during a game of Tug-of-War. I knew if the pulling went on for too long, my bones would snap. Grover and I would both die.

_Help, Percy!_

* * *

**Guess what? I'm going to try to see if I can write a chapter a day for the rest of the summer! If I can't... oh well... Expect the next chapter soon!  
**


	19. Chapter 19

**Yay! I made another chapter in a day! I also went back and edited some minor things in my earlier chapters that people pointed out were off, so thanks for that.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the PJO series...  
**

Chapter 19

Do you know what it's like to be tugged viciously on your legs and arms? Well, let me tell you that it's not fun. At all.

It's extremely painful. You feel like your arms and legs are going break off entirely from your body and your bones are going to snap. I'd rather be stabbed than pulled.

Grover and I were painfully getting pulled in Crusty's store while Percy decided to make small talk with Crusty. _Um, hello? We're about to get pulled to death here!_

"Your real name's not Crusty, is it?" Percy asked.

"Legally, it's Procrustes," Crusty-Procrustes admitted.

I knew there was something weird (and familiar) about him! I tried to remember what I learned about him, though it was hard with all the painful stretching.

Procrustes, or the stretcher, was a bandit from Attica, the capital of Greece, who physically attacked people and either stretched or cut people to make them fit an iron's bed size. _Well, water beds are hardly similar to iron beds…_

Procrustes was actually a son of Poseidon. He lived on Mount Korydallos, which was between Athens and Eleusis. He had an iron bed there and would invite travelers to stop and spend the night. Then he would either stretch or chop off the persons' legs, depending on their height. No one was ever exactly right.

When Theseus, king of Athens and another son of Poseidon, passed by on his way to Athens, Procrustes again lured him to the bed. However, Theseus tricked Procrustes into lying down on his own bed. There, Theseus used Procrustes' own weapon to kill Procrustes.

Wait. That was it! Percy could do the same thing Theseus did to kill Procrustes! But I couldn't just shout out, "PERCY! TRICK HIM INTO LYING IN HIS OWN BED!" I had no choice but to hope Percy would think of it on his own.

"The Stretcher," Percy said. So Percy did no who he was. Good. Now Percy needed to remember how he got killed.

"Yeah," Procrustes said. "But who can pronounce Procrustes? Bad for business. Now 'Crusty', anybody can say that."

"You're right," Percy said. "It's got a good ring to it."

I would have laughed if I hadn't been in so much pain from the ropes stretching me. Since when did _Crusty_ ever have a good ring to it?

Procrustes' eyes lit up. "You think so?"

"Oh, absolutely. And the workmanship on these beds? Fabulous!"

What was Percy doing? Kissing up to Procrustes?

Procrustes grinned. "I tell my customers that. Every time. Nobody bothers to look at the workmanship. How many built-in Lava Lamp headboards have you seen?"

"Not too many."

"That's right!"

Hello? People about to die here, Percy! "Percy!" I yelled. "What are you doing?"

"Don't mind her," Percy said, ignoring me. "She's impossible."

_Excuse me? When I get out of this, I am SO killing you!_

Procrustes laughed. "All my customers are. Never six feet exactly. So inconsiderate. And then they complain about the fitting."

_Gee, I wonder why._

At this time, the stretching was starting to get stronger. Pain throbbed all over my body. I tried to get out of the ropes, but the struggling only made it hurt more. I started getting a headache. My back ached. All the while Grover and I were suffering, Percy was kissing up to Procrustes.

"What happens if they're longer than six feet?" Percy asked.

"Oh, that happens all the time. It's a simple fix," Procrustes bragged.

He let go of Percy's neck and reached behind a sales desk. He pulled out a huge double-bladed brass axe and showed it off. "I just center the subject as best I can and lop off whatever hangs over on either end."

"Ah," Percy said. "Sensible."

"I'm so glad to come across an intelligent customer!" Procrustes beamed.

Ha! Intelligent? Seaweed Brain? Right…

I guess I shouldn't have insulted Percy that much but I was getting really cranky. I mentally cursed Percy as the ropes kept getting tighter and tighter. I was feeling light-headed now. Grover was making gurgling noises that sounded like a strangled goose.

"So, Crusty. Does this one really have dynamic stabilizers to stop wave motion?" Percy asked, glancing at a valentine-shaped Honeymoon Special water bed.

"Absolutely. Try it out," Procrustes offered.

"Yeah, maybe I will. But would it work even for a big guy like you? No waves at all?" Percy asked.

"Guaranteed," Procrustes boasted.

"No way."

"Way."

"Show me."

I saw what Percy was doing then. He was tricking Procrustes just like Theseus tricked Procrustes. Good. But could he hurry up? I was pretty sure if we stayed for another five minutes, Grover and I would die.

Procrustes eagerly sat down on the bed and patted the mattress. "No waves. See?"

Percy snapped his finger and said, "Ergo."

Ropes lashed up from the sides of the bed and fastened Procrustes to the mattress.

"HEY!" Procrustes shouted.

"Center him just right," Percy said.

The ropes readjusted, making Procrustes' entire head stick out on the top and his feet stick out on the bottom.

"No!" Procrustes yelled. "Wait! This is just a demo."

Percy uncapped his sword. "A few simple adjustments," he muttered.

"You drive a hard bargain," Procrustes said. "I'll give you… thirty percent off on selected floor models."

Like he'd want that.

"I think I'll start with the top," Percy said and raised his sword.

"No money down! No interest for six months!" Procrustes said, panicking.

Now he just sounded like a commercial.

Percy swung this sword. I winced at both the sight of Procrustes' head falling off and how strong the ropes were getting.

Percy ran over and cut the ropes on our beds. Grover and I got up, groaning. After being pulled, my feet, arms, and back were killing me.

Grover and I groaned and winced. We both muttered curses at Percy.

"You look taller," Percy said.

"Very funny," I glared. "Be faster next time."

Percy looked over at a bulletin board that was behind Procrustes' sales desk. There was an advertisement for DOA Recording Studios, AKA the Land of the Dead. The address was listed on the flier with a map.

"Come on!" Percy told us.

"Give us a minute," Grover complained, and I agreed with him. "We were almost stretched to death."

"Then you're ready for the Underworld," Percy said. "It's only a block from him.

Well, talk about inconsiderate.

* * *

On the way there, Percy told us the plan. We were going to get into the Underworld and confront Hades. To get past Cerberus, he would throw a stick and Cerberus would chase after it. We would try to convince Hades to give us the master bolt. And we would try to convince him to release his mom. If it turned out something went wrong, Percy would give each of us a pearl, which we were to then smash at our feet.

We walked into DOA Recording Studios. Even though it was almost midnight, the lobby was bright and there were a lot of people. In the security desk, which was a tall raised podium, there was a guard who was wearing sunglasses and an earpiece and looked like he was bored.

Percy turned towards us. "Okay. You remember the plan."

"The plan," Grover gulped. "Yeah. I love the plan."

"What happens if the plan doesn't work?" I asked.

"Don't think negative," Percy said.

"Right," I shot back. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negative."

Percy took the pearls out of his pocket and stared at them. I instantly felt bad. After all, he had saved us from being pulled to death.

I put my hand on Percy's shoulder and said, "I'm sorry, Percy. You're right, we'll make it. It'll be fine."

I nudged Grover, indicating for him to back me up.

"Oh, right!" Grover agreed. "We got this far. We'll find the master bolt and save your mom. No problem."

Percy looked at us, and I could see he was really grateful. He slipped his pearls back into his pocket and said, "Let's whup some Underworld butt."

Sure...

We walked inside the DOA lobby.

It was pretty gloomy, despite the bright lights. The walls and carpet were steel gray. The furniture was black leather. The lobby was filled with people, but no one moved. No one talked. No one really did anything. At first the people in the lobby all looked regular, but when I focused on any one of them, they became transparent and I could see right through them. They were spirits. But why were they frozen?

When we got to the security desk, we looked up at the security guard. He was tall and had chocolate-colored skin and blond hair. He had tortoiseshell sunglasses and a silk Italian suit. On his suit was a name tag. I read it, but thanks to my dyslexia, I read Chiron. I knew that couldn't be right.

However, Percy didn't know. "Your name is Chiron?" He asked, stunned.

The security guard leaned across the desk and smiled coldly. "What a precious young lad," he said with an accent that could have been British. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"

"N-no," Percy stammered.

"Sir," the security guard added.

"Sir," Percy said.

The guard pinched his name tag and ran his finger under the letters. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H-_A_-R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."

"Charon," Percy said.

"Amazing! Now: _Mr. _Charon."

"Mr. Charon," Percy said, with a look on his face that said, _This is stupid_.

I remembered about Charon. He was Hades' ferryman and carried souls or newly deceased across Styx and Acheron, which separated the living from the world o the dead.

"Well done," Charon said, sitting back. "I _hate _being confused with that old horse-man."

_WHAT did you just call Chiron?_

"And now, how may I help you little dead ones?" Charon asked.

Percy had a blank look on his face and turned to me for help.

"We want to go to the Underworld," I said.

Charon's moth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing?"

"Is it?" I asked. How was that refreshing?

"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon.'" He looked us over and asked, "How did you die, then?"

That was one thing I hadn't come up with the answer to.

Percy nudged Grover.

"Oh," Grover said. "Um… drowned…in the bathtub."

I restrained myself from laughing. They actually listened to me when I said that? Wow…

"All three of you?" Charon asked.

Percy and Grover nodded. I was kind of dumbfounded that Grover actually said we drowned in the bathtub, but when I saw them nodding, I nodded too.

"Big bathtub," Charon said.

Was it me or did he look impressed? Wow... he's kind of gullible.

"I don't suppose you have coins for passage. Normally, with adults, you see, I could charge you American Express, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill. But with children… alas, you never die prepared. Suppose you'll have to take a seat for a few centuries," Charon said. I thought I saw him smirk.

"Oh, but we have coins," Percy said. He dug three golden drachmas out of a bag he found at Procrustes' shop and placed them on the counter.

"Well, now…" Charon moistened his lips and stared greedily at the drachmas. "Real drachmas. Real golden drachmas. I haven't seen these in…"

His fingers were hovering greedily over the coins.

I held my breath and waited for him to take the coins.

Then Charon looked at Percy. "Here now," he said. "You couldn't read my name correctly. Are you dyslexic, lad?"

"No," Percy insisted. "I'm dead."

Charon leaned forward and sniffed. "You're not dead. I should've known. You're a godling."

Styx. I forgot that Charon could tell if we were dead or not by our smell. Now what were we going to do?

* * *

**One thing I don't get is that even though I changed my title and summary, when I look my story up, it's still the old title and summary... weird... I know I changed it, though, because when I click on my stories, it shows the updated title and summary.**

**I'll probably get the next chapter up tomorrow! And if I don't... you can yell at me...  
**


	20. Chapter 20

**Yes! A chapter a day keeps the... angry mob away! ;)**

**Disclaimer: I am not Rick Riordan, okay? I don't own the PJO series!  
**

Chapter 20

"We have to get to the Underworld," Percy insisted.

Charon growled.

At first, I thought he was growling to try to scare us. But after he growled, everyone in the lobby immediately started moving and became unfrozen.

"Leave while you can," Charon said. "I'll just take these and forget I saw you."

Charon reached his hand out to take the drachmas, but Percy quickly snatched them back.

"No service, no tip," Percy said.

Charon growled again, and the spirits started pounding on the elevator doors.

"It's a shame, too," Percy sighed. "We had more to offer."

Percy held up the entire bag of drachmas. He reached in and took out a fistful of drachmas, then let them slide through his fingers.

Charon's growl turned into something that sounded like either a lion or cat's purr. "Do you think I can be bought, godling?"

Er… Yes.

"Eh, just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?" Charon asked, trying to look like he didn't care.

"A lot," Percy said. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work."

"Oh, you don't know the half of it," Charon complained. "How would you like to baby-sit these spirits all day? Always 'Please don't let me be dead;' or 'Please let me across for free.' I haven't had a pay raise in three thousand years. Do you imagine suits like this come cheap?"

"You deserve better," Percy agreed, stacking more coins on the counter. "A little appreciation." Stack. Stack. Stack. "Respect." Stack. "Good pay." Stack. Stack.

Charon glanced down at his silk jacket and got a look in his eyes like he was imagining himself in an even better suit. "I must say, lad, you're making some sense now. Just a little."

Percy stacked some more coins on the counter. "I could mention a pay raise while I'm talking to Hades."

If I were Charon, it would be hard for even me to resist the offer.

Charon sighed. "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you three and be off."

Charon stood and swiftly scooped up all the money. "Come along."

We pushed through the crowd of spirits. They started to grab at our clothes like the wind. They whispered things that I couldn't understand. Charon just shoved them out of the way and grumbled, "Freeloaders."

Charon led us into the elevator, which already had tons of spirits, each of them holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits trying to sneak on and pushed them back into the lobby.

"Right. Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone!" Charon announced to the spirits in the waiting room. "And if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?"

Harsh.

Charon shut the doors and inserted a key card into a slot in the elevator panel. We started to descend.

"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" I asked.

"Nothing," Charon replied.

_Nothing?_ "For how long?" I asked.

"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous."

So the spirits had to wait there _forever_? No wonder those spirits were trying to sneak on. I didn't blame them.

"Oh. That's…" I tried to find a word. "Fair…" It wasn't exactly what I was thinking.

Charon raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said death was fair, young miss? Wait until it's your turn. You'll die soon enough, where you're going."

"We'll get out alive," Percy said confidently.

"Ha," Charon said.

Suddenly, I started to get dizzy. We weren't moving down anymore, but forward. The air began to turn misty. The spirits in the elevator were changing shape and their modern clothes turned into gray hooded robes. I looked down at myself to see if our clothes had changed. They hadn't, thankfully. I saw the floor of the elevator swaying. I groaned inwardly as I got dizzier and dizzier.

Dizziness and I don't mix. At those amusement parks, I always avoided going on the rides in the teacups where people would pin the wheel in the center and he teacups would spin faster and faster. I went on that ride once. I got so sick that I couldn't stand up.

I looked over at Charon and saw that he, too, had changed. Charon was also wearing a long black robe. His sunglasses were gone, and his eyes were empty sockets, like Ares', except that Charon's eyes were dark and full of night, death, and despair.

Percy was blatantly staring at Charon. Charon saw him looking and said, "Well?"

"Nothing," Percy mumbled.

As I looked harder, I saw that Charon's flesh of his face was becoming transparent and I was able to see his skull.

The floor kept swaying. I thankfully stopped getting dizzy. Then I realized we weren't in an elevator anymore. We were on a wooden barge and Charon was poling us across the…

"The River Styx," I said. I stared at it, shocked. "It's so…"

"Polluted," Charon finished. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you came across-hopes, dreams, wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."

I continued staring at the River Styx. It was dark and oily. Bones, dead fish, and even plastic dolls, crushed carnations, and diplomas, were littered in the river. Mist was coming off from the water.

Above us, there was a ceiling of stalactites that were almost lost in the gloom. We were approaching the shore far ahead that sparkled with green light that looked like the color of poison.

It dawned on me that everyone was dead. Everybody here on this boat was dead. Panicking, I grabbed Percy's hand. No, not in the "love" way Aphrodite would swoon about, but in the way for reassurance. I needed someone who was alive.

The Underworld's shoreline came into our view. Black volcanic sand with steep and rugged rocks stretched inland to the base of a tall stone wall. Suddenly, a howl sounded and echoed all around from nearby.

"Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon smirked. "Bad luck for you, godlings."

The boat slid onto the black sand and the spirits started to get off.

"I'd wish you luck, mate," Charon said, "but there isn't any down here."

_Thanks a lot._

"Mind you, don't forget to mention my pay raise," Charon said.

Charon counted the drachmas in his pocket and took up his pole. He sung a song that sounded a lot like Barry Manilow as he ferried the empty boat back across the River Styx.

Percy, Grover, and I turned and followed the spirits up the path.

* * *

Surprisingly, the entrance to the Underworld looked like a cross between airport security and the highway and tollbooths.

There was a huge black archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS with three separate entrances under it. Each of the entrances had those walk-through metal detectors with security cameras on the top.

_Right, because already dead people are going to shoot other already dead people with a gun._

Beyond the security check were tollbooths. There were black-robed ghouls like Charon manning the booths.

As we kept walking forward, the howl of "Old Three-Face", or Cerberus, the three headed dog that guarded Hades' door and kept people from escaping, grew louder. However, I couldn't see him.

The dead waited up in the three lines. Two of the lines were marked _Attendant On Duty_, and one was marked _EZ Death_. The _EZ Death _lines was moving relatively fast compared to the other two lines.

"What do you figure?" Percy asked me.

"The fast line must go straight to the Asphodel Fields. No contest," I said.

The Asphodel Fields was where those who were neither particularly good nor bad during their lifetime went.

"They don't want to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them," I continued.

They could have the chance to go to Elysium, but then again, they could be punished cruelly. No one wanted to be punished, so the majority went to the Asphodel Fields.

"There's a court for dead people?" Percy asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos, Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare- people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs a special reward- the Fields of Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Asphodel Fields."

"And do what?" Percy asked.

Grover answered. "Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever."

"Harsh," Percy muttered. I agreed.

"Not as harsh as that. Look," Grover said.

Two black-robbed ghouls had pulled aside a spirit and were searching him at the security desk.

"He's the preacher who made the news, remember?" Grover asked.

I had no idea what they were talking about.

"Oh, yeah," Percy said. "What're they doing to him?"

"Special punishment from Hades," Grover guessed. "The really bad people get his personal attention as soon as they arrive. The Fur-the Kindly Ones will set up an eternal torture for him."

I didn't know who the man was, but he must have done something really bad to get a punishment from Hades.

"But if he's a preacher, and he believes in different hell…" Percy said.

Grover shrugged. "Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see. You're very stubborn-er, persistent, that way."

_That's one way to put it…_

As we neared closer towards the gates, the howling became so loud that it shook the ground. I still couldn't figure out where Cerberus was, though.

Suddenly, the green mist shimmered about fifty feet ahead. Where the path split in three lanes was a giant monster with three heads. Cerberus. And he was looking right at us.

Why hadn't we seen him before? It was because he was like the dead, half transparent. He blended in with his surroundings except when he moved. Only his eyes and teeth looked solid.

Percy was gaping and he seemed like he didn't know what to say. "He's a Rottweiler," he finally managed to say.

What a great observation.

The dead walked up to him with no fear at all. I guess when you're dead, you don't have much to lose. The _Attendant On Duty _lines parted on either side of him while the other line walked right under his stomach.

"I'm starting to see him better," Percy whispered. "Why is that?"

I looked at Cerberus and found that I, too, could see him clearer.

"I think…" I moistened my lips and didn't want to say what I thought. "I'm afraid it's because we're getting closer to being dead."

Cerberus' middle head turned towards us. It sniffed the air and growled.

"It can smell the living," Percy whimpered.

"But that's okay," Grover said, trying to be brave. "Because we have a plan."

"Right," I said. I didn't realize my voice sounded so small. It was probably because I heard all the damage Cerberus could do. "A plan."

We shuffled slowly towards Cerberus.

Cerberus' middle head snarled, and then barked so loudly that my hair was blown back.

"Can you understand it?" Percy asked Grover.

"Oh yeah," Grover said. "I can understand it."

"What's it saying?" Percy asked.

"I don't think humans have a four-letter word that translates, exactly," Grover muttered.

Well. It was nice to know Cerberus welcomed us.

Percy slowly took a big stick that he hadn't broken off of Procrustes' bed out of his backpack and held it up with shaking hands. He tried to smile.

"Hey, Big Fella," Percy called. "I bet they don't play with you much."

"GROOOOWWWLL!" Cerberus responded.

"Good boy…" Percy said weakly.

He waved the stick and Cerberus' middle head followed its movement. The other two heads glued their eyes on Percy and completely ignored the spirits.

"Fetch!" Percy cried. He threw the stick into the River Styx.

I shook my head. He was doing everything wrong.

Cerberus glared at Percy. He wasn't impressed. He started growling.

"Um, Percy?" Grover said.

"Yeah?"

"I just thought you'd want to know."

"Yeah?"

"Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice. After that…well…he's hungry."

Great. Just great. Hopefully, I'd come up with a plan. And fast.

* * *

**I'm actually not sure if I'll be able to get the next chapter up tomorrow, but I'll try! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that chapter!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hi! Sorry I didn't update yesterday, but my parents dragged me off to go sightseeing for the whole day! :( Then tomorrow, I have school. :( Nooo! I don't want to go to school!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO!**

Chapter 21

While Cerberus was staring at us as if anticipating what we'd taste like, I was desperately trying to think of a plan. Then I remembered my backpack I got from Waterland. I still had it, and it was stuffed with souvenirs. One of the souvenirs was a red rubber ball.

How would that help? Well, I remembered when I was little… littler anyway, and I still lived with my dad, stepmom, and stepsiblings. We had a Doberman dog. When my stepmom had bought him, he wasn't trained.

"_Why did you buy a dog that's not even trained?" my dad asked my stepmom, completely red in the face._

_They were in the kitchen with the little Doberman, and I was sitting the living room, pretending to watch TV, but instead was eavesdropping._

"_I thought that Bobby and Matthew would like a dog," my stepmom said. She was talking about my two stepbrothers. "They need another source of entertainment around here. And it would get their minds of those monsters that girl keeps attracting," she added bitterly._

_I winced but kept listening._

"_Look at him!" my dad exclaimed. "What is he doing?"_

_I snuck a peek over and saw the dog raising his hind leg. I clapped my hands over my mouth and shook from silent laughter._

"_That's repulsive!" my dad shouted. "We are not keeping him!"_

"_Please, Fredrick! If we put the dog in obedience school…"_

_My dad hesitated. "Fine." _

_My dad later told me that it would be my job to supervise the dog during obedience school because he and my stepmom were "too busy" to wait. I had no idea what he was even thinking! I was six!_

"_I'm only six," I reminded him._

_He glared at me. "And now you'll finally be putting your brains to use."_

_He then proceeded to lecture me not to do anything stupid. I wasn't to leave, to misbehave, to attract attention, or to attract monsters. Like I did that on purpose!_

_Every Saturday, my dad drove the dog, which Bobby named Chocolate after his own love for chocolate, and me to obedience school. He dropped us off and checked in before speeding away._

_Obedience school turned out to be entertaining. At first, everyone stared at me, wondering why a six year old was there, but they eventually warmed up to me._

_I learned great techniques for training dogs at obedience school. Every time when we got home afterwards, I would help train Chocolate and enforce what he just learned._

_Chocolate and I formed a great friendship. We got along excellently and we played together. I remembered Chocolate's favorite game: Fetch. But he was picky. He wouldn't fetch just anything. He only fetched brightly colored balls._

_I was the only one who knew that. My stepbrothers threw sticks and told him to fetch, but he didn't go after them. He just sat there expectantly, and my stepbrothers stormed off, muttering, "Chocolate's no fun." _

_When I threw a ball, however, he bounded after it like crazy. He returned and excitedly dropped the drool-covered ball at my feet, his tail wagging like crazy. I picked it up and threw it again and again, never getting tired of playing with Chocolate._

_When I left home, the only thing I regretted about leaving was the fact that I had to leave Chocolate. We had grown so close and I hated to say goodbye. But with tears in my eyes, I petted Chocolate and threw him a red ball. Then, before I could get caught, I turned and ran away. As I ran further and further away, I could still hear Chocolate's whines ringing in my ears._

I loud growl brought me back to present time. I blinked and shook my head, then yelled, "Wait!" I started rummaging through my backpack.

"Five seconds," Grover warned. "Do we run now?"

I found the red ball and grabbed it. I turned to Cerberus, raised the ball over my head, and marched right up to him.

I remembered what the trainer said about training dogs. "When training your dog, you must be sure to reward your dog whenever it does something right. Take an object that your dog likes, like a toy. In a loud, clear, and demanding voice, you have to order your dog to do what you want to. Repeating the command is crucial to training your dog. Be sure to make your voice strong and believe in what you're doing. For instance, if you're training your dog to sit, you must say 'sit' in a _clear _and _firm_ tone. Repeat it if you must. When your dog does sit, be sure to reward it."

I took a deep breath, looked straight at Cerberus, and shouted, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"

Grover and Percy were looking at me with a 'What are you doing' look on their faces, but I ignored them.

Cerberus cocked his heads sideways and looked stunned.

"Sit!" I shouted again.

I grew nervous. What if Cerberus didn't sit? What if he didn't follow any of my commands? But then I composed myself. _Focus, Annabeth._

Cerberus licked his lips and sat down, crushing a dozen spirits who had been walking under him in the _EZ Death_ line.

"Good boy!" I said and tossed him the ball.

His middle head's mouth caught the ball. Since the ball was no bigger than a grapefruit, it was hardly big enough for him to even chew it. The other heads started snapping at the middle head and tried to get the ball.

"Drop it!" I ordered before the heads could start hurting each other for it.

Cerberus looked at me and his heads stopped fighting. He made a loud whimper and dropped the ball at my feet, covered in drool and half-destroyed.

"Good boy." I said and picked up the ball. I turned to face Grover and Percy. "Go now. _EZ Death_ line-it's faster."

"But-" Percy said.

"Now!" I ordered, unconsciously talking to them like I had to Cerberus.

Grover and Percy inched forward cautiously.

Cerberus started growling.

"Stay!" I ordered. "If you want the ball, stay!"

Cerberus whimpered, but he stayed put.

"What are you doing?" Percy asked as he and Grover passed me.

"I know what I'm doing, Percy," I muttered. "At least, I'm pretty sure…"

Grover and Percy continued to walk and walked under Cerberus' legs and over to the other side.

"Good dog!" I said.

I held up the red ball, but then remembered that if I gave him the ball, it would be so destroyed that I wouldn't be able to use it for another trick. But if I didn't throw the ball, Cerberus would get mad.

I threw the ball up. Cerberus' middle head reached out for the ball, but his middle head snatched it. The middle head, furious, attacked the left head and the right head moaned in protest.

Now was the perfect chance to pass while he was distracted. I walked under Cerberus' belly and joined Percy and Grover in front of the metal detector.

"How did you do that?" Percy asked with wide eyes.

I looked back at Cerberus. It reminded me painfully of Chocolate, when I threw the ball at him, then left. "Obedience school," I said. I could feel tears welling in my eyes as I remembered Chocolate. I tried to blink them away. "When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Doberman…"

"Never mind that," Grover said, tugging at Percy's shirt. "Come on!"

Before we could go, Cerberus moaned pitifully. I stopped. I imagined Chocolate that way, also, when I left.

I turned to look at Cerberus, who had turned one hundred and eighty degrees to look at us.

Cerberus was panting expectantly, like he couldn't wait for another ball. The red ball was torn to pieces in a puddle of drool at his feet. I felt a pang of sadness, looking at Cerberus, who was happily anticipating another ball. Another ball that I didn't have. It was like a replay of Chocolate all over again.

"Good boy," I said, trying not to sound sad.

Cerberus' head turned sideways, as if worried about me.

"I'll bring you another ball soon," I promised faintly. "Would you like that?"

Cerberus whimpered, waiting for the ball.

"Good dog. I'll come visit you soon. I-I promise." I slowly turned towards Percy and Grover and said, "Let's go."

We pushed throw the metal detector. It screamed and set of flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"

Oh, that made sense. It wasn't a metal detector; it was a magic detector.

Cerberus started to bark.

We ran through the gate, causing even more alarms to blare, and sped into the Underworld. We ran in a rotten trunk of a huge black tree just seconds before security ghouls scurried past, yelling for backup from the Furies.

"Well, Percy, what have we learned today?" Grover asked.

"That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?" Percy answered, uncertainly.

"No," Grover said. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!"

I didn't pay attention to them. I thought about Chocolate and Cerberus. A tear ran down my cheek as I thought about having to abandon them both. I heard Cerberus cry out in grief in the distance, and another tear fell down my cheek. I wiped the tear away and we kept walking.

* * *

The Fields of Asphodel weren't what I thought they would be like. It was about a thousand times bigger than I imagined.

The field was immensely humongous. It had to be a million times bigger than a football field. It was packed with people and there was no electricity whatsoever. There was trampled black grass and warm, moist wind. Black trees, which were poplars, grew in clumps around the field. The ceiling was so high up hat it could've been a bank of storm clouds except for the fact that there ware stalactites up high. I looked around and saw several of them had fallen down. Of course the dead had nothing to be afraid of, but we did.

We tried to blend in the crowd in case any security ghouls came by. Several of the dead came up to us. They tried to speak to us, but it just sounded like bats twittering.

We followed the line of new arrivals that snaked from the main gates towards a black-tented pavilion with a banner outside that read:

JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION

Welcome, Newly Deceased!

Thanks…

Two much smaller lines came out of the back of the tent.

On the left line, the spirits flanked by security ghouls were being led down a rocky path and towards the Fields of Punishment, which glowed and smoked, looking scary from even the distance. It was a big cracked wasteland with rivers of lava and minefields and miles of barbed wire that separated the different torture areas. Though I was far away, I could still see people getting tortured. They were being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches, and much more painful things. I cringed at the sight of it.

The right line led down towards a small valley surrounded by walls. It was the only happy part of the Underworld: Elysium, the place where heroes went. Here were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from each time period in history. There were Roman villas, medieval castles, and Victorian mansions. I admired the brilliant architecture. There were beautiful silver and gold flowers blooming from the lawn and the grass rippled in rainbow colors. There was laughter coming from Elysium as well as the smell of barbecue.

In the middle of Elysium was a glittering blue lake. There were three small islands there: The Isles of the Bluest. Only people who had chosen to be reborn three times and each time achieved Elysium could go there.

I looked over at Percy and saw the longing on his face.

"That's what it's all about," I said. "That's the pace for heroes."

I hoped, too, that when I died, I would be able to go there. But for now, we had to focus on the quest, and I wasn't looking to die any time soon.

* * *

**By the way, thanks for all the reviews! You guys are the best!**


	22. Chapter 22

**I'm back with another chapter after not updating in soo long! I'm so so so so so so so so sorry x 1,000 for not updating sooner! It's just that school's just has me so busy! A grade higher, a whole more ton of work! You all know what it's like! If you don't, I ENVY YOU! Anyway, I'm so so sorry and want to thank you all for reviewing and sticking to this story despite my lousy updating! I made sure to make this chapter extra long! But, without further ado, the story!**

**Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure if I owned this, I wouldn't be on fanfiction posting stories. I'd be... publishing them into real books!**

Chapter 21

We walked further into the Asphodel Fields and it grew darker and darker. The colors on our clothes faded and the crowds of spirits began to thin out.

Walking a few miles more, we were greeted by familiar screeches. The Kindly Ones were looming on the horizon, acting like they were waiting for us.

"I suppose it's too late to turn back…" Grover whimpered.

"We'll be okay," Percy said, but his voice cracked.

"Maybe we should search some of the other places first. Like, Elysium, for instance…" Grover suggested hopefully.

As nice as that would be, we all knew that wasn't the place to go.

"Come on, goat boy," I said, grabbing his arm.

Grover yelped in protest. He activated his flying shoes and his legs shot forward, pulling him away from my grip. He landed on his back in the grass.

I knew Grover didn't want to face Hades, but he really needed to stop messing around. We were on a time limit here.

"Grover, stop messing around," I said.

"But I didn't-"

Grover yelped again. His shoes' wings were flapping line crazy. They levitated off the ground and started dragging him away from us.

"_Maia!_" Grover yelled, trying to deactivate his shoes. "_Maia_, already! Nine-one-one! Help!"

I realized Grover wasn't doing this on purpose and ran after him. He was picking up speed and slid down the hill like a sled.

"Untie the shoes!" I shouted at Grover. If he got rid of the shoes, he would stop getting pulled down.

Unfortunately, Grover was being pulled feet-first at full speed and couldn't get close to the shoelaces.

Percy and I kept frantically running after Grover, trying to make sure he didn't get too far ahead. Grover looked like he was going to barrel straight through the gates of Hades' palace, but instead his shoes steered sharply to the right, dragging him in the opposite direction.

The slope got steeper and Grover picked up more speed. Percy and I had to start sprinting to keep up with him. We entered a tunnel and the cavern walls narrowed on either side.

"Grover!" Percy yelled, his voice echoing in the tunnel. "Hold on to something!"

"What?" Grover yelled back.

Grover had a point. There weren't any trees or even grass to grab onto. Just rocks.

Grover tired to grab at the gravel, but it didn't work.

It got darker and colder. The tunnel reeked of something evil. Ahead, the tunnel widened into a huge dark cavern. In the middle of the cave was a huge pit. I recognized it as the place Percy had described in his dreams and what I thought could be... Tartarus.

I saw Percy had stopped dead in his tracks, recognizing the cave as the one in his dreams. Meanwhile, Grover was sliding straight towards the edge of the cave.

"Come on, Percy!" I yelled at him, tugging at his wrist.

"But that's-" Percy stuttered, looking pale.

"I know! The place you described in your dream!" I shouted. "But Grover's going to fall if we don't catch him!"

Grover was approaching the pit. He was yelling and clawing at the ground, but the shoes kept on dragging him toward the pit. Based on the speed he was approaching, I was afraid we couldn't get to him in time.

Suddenly, Grover rammed into a big rock. His flying shoes had been a loose fit on him and the left shoe came flying off, speeding into the darkness and down into the chasm. The right shoe kept tugging at Grover, but at a slower pace. Grover grabbed onto the big rock and slowed himself down.

We kept running. Ten feet away from the edge of the pit, we caught Grover and hauled him back up the slope. His other shoe tugged itself off of Grover's foot and circled around us angrily before kicking our heads quite hard. Then it flew into the pit.

We all collapsed on the ground, exhausted. I didn't know if I had even run that fast in my life. My legs felt heavy and I didn't know if I could have gone any further.

I turned to look at Grover to see if he was all right. He didn't look so good. He was scratched up pretty bad. His hands were bleeding and his eyes were slit-pupiled, the way they were when Grover was terrified.

"I don't know how…" Grover panted. "I didn't…"

"Wait," Percy said abruptly. "Listen."

We shut up and listened to the silence. What were we supposed to be hearing?

After a few seconds, I said, "Percy, this place-"

"Shh…" Percy shushed again.

Finally, I heard what Percy was talking about. There was a voice coming from the pit. A muttering, evil voice.

Grover sat up. "Wh-what's that noise?"

"Tartarus. The entrance to Tartarus." I wasn't referring to the noise, but to what this place was.

Percy uncapped his sword. The evil voice seemed to falter, as if afraid of Percy's sword, but after a moment, resumed chanting.

I could almost understand what the voice was saying now. It was an ancient language, older than Greek.

"Magic," Percy said.

I understood one word: die.

"We have to get out of here," I said.

Percy ad I dragged Grover to his hooves and we started back up the tunnel. The voice got louder and angrier, and we started running.

A cold blast of wind tugged at our backs as if the pit was inhaling. Percy lost his footing and slipped to the gravel. It was lucky we had started running. If we'd been any closer to the pit, we would have been sucked in and seen who-knows-what, but one thing was for sure. It wouldn't be pleasant.

We kept on struggling forward and finally reached the top of the tunnel. The wind died and a wail of outrage echoed from deep in the tunnel. Whatever was in the tunnel was mad we had gotten away, and I was now of sure who was in the tunnel: Kronos.

"What _was _that?" Grover panted after we collapsed on a black poplar grove. "One of Hades' pets?"

I looked at Percy. I didn't have the heart to tell them what I thought was in the pit. I didn't want it to be true. I didn't want Kronos to be alive in that pit. If it was... then that would be bad.

Percy capped his sword. "Let's keep going." He looked at Grover. "Can you walk?"

Grover swallowed. "Yeah, sure. I never liked those shoes anyway."

Despite what he said, Grover was trembling. I realized we were all trembling. The near-to-death experience did not help our nerves.

* * *

We approached Hades' palace. The Furies were circling the parapets. The outer walls were glittered in black, and the two-story-tall bronze gates were wide open. On the gates were engravings of scenes of death: an atomic bomb exploding, a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims holding empty bowls. However modern the disasters seemed, it looked like they had been engraved thousands of years ago. I realized they were prophecies foretold by oracles that had come true.

In the courtyard there was a garden with multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and luminous plants that grew without sunlight. There were piles of rubies as big as my fist and clumps of raw diamonds in place of flowers. It was a strange garden, but definitely very valuable... Scattered around were Medusa's garden statues.

In the middle of the garden, there was an orchard of pomegranate trees. I recognized the garden.

"The garden of Persephone," I said. The smell of the pomegranates was overwhelming, trying to lure us over. I knew if we ate the pomegranates, we would never be able to leave. "Keep walking."

We walked into the house of Hades. The entry hall's floor was polished and bronze-colored. It seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There wasn't a ceiling, since it obviously doesn't rain or snow in the Underworld.

Skeletons in military gear were guarding every doorway. Some of the skeletons wore Greek armor, some wore British redcoat uniforms, and some wore camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears, muskets, or M-16s, and none of them bothered us, though their hollow eye sockets followed us. Creepy...

We walked down the hall and towards the big set of doors at the end. The two U.S. Marine skeletons that guarded the doors grinned at us, holding rocket-propelled grenade launching across their chests.

"You know," Grover mumbled, "I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmen."

I wouldn't even think there are door-to-door salesmen in the Underworld.

"Well, guys. I suppose we should…knock?" Percy suggested.

Before any of us could, a hot wind blew down the corridor and swept open the doors. The guards stepped aside.

"I guess that means _entrez-vous_," I said nervously.

We walked into a room exactly like the one Percy had described in his dream.

We saw Hades. He wasn't that hard to notice. Hades was sitting on his repulsive throne, which was fused human bones. He was ten feet tall and dressed in black silk robes. He wore a crown of braided gold and his skin was white. He had black shoulder-length hair.

Hades' presence started to affect me. Instead of making me mad like Ares did, Hades made me feel as though he should be my master. I quickly pushed the thoughts away.

"You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon," Hades boomed. Boomed was kind of overrating, actually. More like, sneered in an oily voice. Of course, I would never say that out loud. "After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply foolish."

_What does that mean? Percy never did anything to Hades. Well, Hades' furies, but Hades was the "genius" to set them after him. _I remembered again what the Kindly Ones were screeching on the bus. _"Where is it?" _Did Hades possibly think Percy stole something from him?

"Lord and Uncle, I come with two requests," Percy said, stepping forward.

Hades arched his eyebrow and sat forward in his throne. Shadowy figures appeared in the folds of his black robes. They were faces of torment woven on the robes, symbolizing the trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment trying to escape.

"_Only_ two requests?" Hades asked. "Arrogant child. As if you have not already taken enough. Speak, then. It amuses me not to strike you dead yet."

There it was again. Hades said Percy took something.

Percy seemed to be zoning out. I cleared my throat and tried to get his attention. When that didn't work, I poked him.

Percy snapped out of his daydream and said, "Lord Hades. Look, sir, there can't be a war among the gods. It would be…bad."

_Déjà vu._

"Really bad," Grover added in an attempt to be helpful.

"Return Zeus' master bolt to me," Percy continued. "Please, sir. Let me carry it to Olympus."

Hades eyes grew bright. "You dare keep up this pretense, after what you have done?"

Again, Hades was accusing Percy of something bad. But…what was it? Confused, I wracked my head trying to think of what Hades could possibly be accusing Percy of.

"Um…Uncle," Percy said hesitantly. "You keep saying 'after what you've done.' What exactly have I done?"

The room shook like an earthquake, mirroring Hades' anger. I wondered what the poor people in Los Angeles were experiencing. Debris fell from the cavern ceiling. The doors burst open all along the walls and hundreds of skeletal warriors from every time period and nation in he Western civilization walked in a blocked all the exits.

"Do you think I _want _war, godling?" Hades bellowed.

_Just the tiniest bit._

"You are the Lord of the Dead," Percy said slowly. "A war would expand your kingdom, right?"

"A typical thing for my brothers to say! Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?" Hades questioned.

_Well… he's got a point there… But does Hades really not want more subjects? Wouldn't that make him more powerful?_

"Well…" Percy muttered.

"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open?" Hades ranted. "More security ghouls. Traffic problems at the judgment pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"

I believed Hades. He sounded so mad. He couldn't have the master bolt… then who could?

"Charon wants a pay raise," Percy blurted out.

Smart, Percy… That was exactly the right thing to say.

Hades flared up. "Don't get me started on Charon!" He yelled. "He's been impossible ever since he discovered Italian suits! Problems everywhere, and I've got to handle all of them personally. The commute time alone from the palace to the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead just keep arriving. _No,_ godling. I need no help getting subjects! _I_ did not ask for this war."

"But you took Zeus' master bolt." Percy protested. I realized I should have told him Hades hadn't stolen the master bolt. Shoot.

"LIES!" Hades cried, causing more rumbling. He stood up and towered above us, the height of a football goalpost. "Your father may fool Zeus, boy, but I am not so stupid. I see his plan."

_Plan? What plan?_

"His plan?" Percy asked.

"_You _were the thief on the winter solstice," Hades accused.

_Not this again! Percy would never be able to steal the bolt! He doesn't exactly have the guts to.  
_

"Your father thought to keep you his little secret," Hades continued. "He directed you into the throne room on Olympus. You took the master bolt _and _my helm."

Hades' helm? _That's _what Hades was talking about… Hades though Percy stole his helm! This was getting ridiculous. There was no way Percy could steal Hades' helm, let alone Zeus' master bolt.

"Had I not sent my Fury to discover you at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief, and I will have my helm back!"

"But…" I said. Hades' helm was gone. He didn't take Zeus' master bolt. Percy didn't take any of those. The Kindly Ones on the bus were screaming, "It!" It means… "Lord Hades, your helm of darkness is missing, too?"

"Do not play innocent with me, girl." _Innocent? _"You and the satyr have been helping this hero-coming here to threaten me in Poseidon's name, no doubt-to bring me an ultimatum. Does Poseidon think I can be blackmailed into supporting him?"

Now Hades was just getting ridiculous! This feud between the Big Three was starting to get on my nerves. They were so paranoid!

"NO!" Percy cried. "Poseidon didn't-I didn't-"

"I have said nothing of the helm's disappearance," Hades snarled, "because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. I can ill afford for word to get out that my most powerful weapon is missing. So I searched for you myself, and when it was clear you were coming to me to deliver your threat, I did not try to stop you."

"You didn't try to stop us? But-"

"Return my helm now, or I will stop death!" Hades threatened. "That is my counter proposal. I will open the earth and have the dead pour back into the world. I will make your lands a nightmare. And you, Percy Jackson-_your _skeleton will lead my army out of Hades."

The skeletal soldiers took a step forward and pointed their weapons. I glanced over at Percy nervously. I expected him to look scared, but instead he looked… offended. Oh, no. Please don't say anything stupid!

"You're as bad as Zeus!" Percy said. "You think I stole from you? That's why you sent the Furies after me?"

"Of course," Hades said.

"And the other monsters?" Percy asked.

Hades curled his lip. "I had nothing to do with them. I wanted no quick death for you-I wanted you brought before me alive so you might face every torture in the Fields of Punishment. Why do you think I let you enter my kingdom so easily?"

Easy? That was easy? But now that I thought of it…the Kindly Ones really hadn't done that good of a job chasing after us.

"_Easily?_" Percy repeated.

"Return my property!" Hades roared.

"But I don't have your helm," Percy protested. "I came for the master bolt."

"Which you already possess!" Hades shouted. "You came here with it, little fool, thinking you could threaten me!"_*****_

"But I didn't!" Percy protested.

"Open your pack, then," Hades commanded.

Backpack? I looked around and realized Percy was carrying a red backpack. I didn't notice it before. Why not? I looked at Percy and realized he looked a little pale. But he hadn't stolen the bolt… why was he nervous?

Percy slung the backpack off his shoulder and unzipped it to reveal a two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends and humming with energy. The master bolt.

My eyes widened. But that was impossible! How did Percy even get it? I've been with him the whole quest, and he never got it! He couldn't have snuck it into the backpack, either, because… he didn't have it to start out with. Who gave it to him?

"Percy," I said. "How-"

"I-I don't know. I don't understand," Percy said.

"You heroes are always the same," Hades said. "Your pride makes you foolish, thinking you could bring such a weapon before me. I did not ask for Zeus' master bolt, but since it is here, you will yield it to me."

No, he won't!

"I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool," Hades continued. "And now… my helm. Where is it?"

But that was another mistake. We never obtained the bolt, and we never got the helm either. What was going on? Then I remembered who Percy got the backpack from. Ares, the god of war. And which god of war wouldn't like seeing a war going on?

Percy must have realized the same thing, too. "Lord Hades, wait. This is all a mistake."

"A mistake?" Hades roared.

The skeletons aimed their weapons at us. Coming from high above, the three Kindly Ones swooped down and perched on the back of Hades' throne.

"There is no mistake," Hades said. "I know why you have come-I know the _real _reason you brought the bolt. You came to bargain for _her_."

Hades loosed a ball of gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the steps in front of Percy. In there was a woman with long brown hair frozen in a shower of gold. Percy's eyes widened and I realized that the woman was Percy's mom.

Oh, Styx. What game was Hades playing now?

* * *

**_*_Ha, there's actually a typo here. It says in the book, "You could you threaten me!" I never noticed that before.**

**Anyway, that's the end of chapter 22. If I don't have the next chapter up by... Saturday, feel free to threaten me.**

**And to all the people who stuck with me and my bad updating skills, you can take a virtual cookie! And... what the heck, take a virtual scoop of ice cream, too!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hi everyone! Isn't it just a lovely Saturday? I mean, it's all sunny and... It's Monday? Two days after I promised I'd update? You mean... um... well... Happy Labor Day! Aww, you guys are so nice! I told you you could threaten me if I didn't update, but you didn't. Sorry I didn't update Saturday... but I'm updating now, so... Enjoy!  
**

**Disclaimer: How long do I really have to keep doing this? Seriously. I don't own it, OKAY?**

Chapter 23

Percy stared at his mom, trapped in a shower of gold. He reached out to touch her, but couldn't.

"Yes," Hades said with satisfaction. "I took her. I knew, Percy Jackson, that you would come to bargain with me eventually. Return my helm, and perhaps I will let her go. She is not dead, you know. Not yet. But if you displease me, that will change."

Percy seemed to be in a battle with himself.

"Ah, the pearls," Hades said. Percy paled. "Yes, my brother and his little tricks. Bring them forth, Percy Jackson."

Percy took out and showed the pearls to Hades.

I realized then that Percy wanted to save his mother, but there were four of us… and only three pearls. I suddenly remembered telling Percy that no gifts came without a price. This was the price.

"Only three," Hades said. "What a shame. You do realize each only protects a single person. Try to take your mother, then, little godling. And which of your friends will you leave behind to spend eternity with me? Go on. Choose. Or give me the backpack and accept my terms."

Percy looked at us. I knew he really wanted to save his mother. From what I heard, she was really nice. Better than my dad or stepmom could ever be. I instantly felt bad. Here Percy had a nice mother who loved him, and he had to choose whether or not to sacrifice something and save her,

"We were tricked," Percy said. "Set up."

"Yes, but why?" I asked. I thought again about the voice in the pit. It could be important for Percy to know. "And the voice in the pit-"

"I don't know yet," Percy said, cutting me off. "But I intend to ask."

_Yes, but I'm intending to tell you! I_ opened my mouth to tell Percy, but before I could, Hades yelled, "Decide, boy!"

"Percy," Grover said, putting his hand on Percy's shoulder. "You can't give him the bolt."

"I know that," Percy said.

"Leave me here," Grover said. "Use the third pearl on your mom."

"No!" Percy protested. I was also taken aback. Grover shouldn't have to sacrifice himself!

"I'm a satyr," Grover said. "We don't have souls like humans do. He can torture me until I die, but he won't get me forever. I'll just be reincarnated as a flower or something. It's the best way."

"No!" I protested, drawing my bronze knife. Grover also had plans in life. He wanted to search for Pan. And Percy obviously needed to reunite with his mother. It was best if I stayed behind. "You two go on. Grover, you have to protect Percy. You have to get your searcher's license and start your quest for Pan. Get his mom out of here. I'll cover you. I plan to go down fighting." If I had to die, I would die fighting.

"No way," Grover said. "I'm staying behind.

_No you're not! _"Think again, goat boy," I said.

"Stop it, both of you!" Percy cried. "I know what to do. Take these." He handed each of us a pearl.

"But, Percy…" I said. What about his mother?

Percy had a pained look on his face. He turned and faced his mother. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I'll be back. I'll find a way."

The smug look on Hades' face vanished. "Godling…?"

"I'll find your helm, Uncle," Percy said. "I'll return it. Remember about Charon's pay raise.

"Do not defy me-" Hades threatened.

But Percy was on a roll now. "And it wouldn't hurt to play with Cerberus once in a while. He likes red rubber balls."

I internally winced when Percy said Cerberus, immediately feeling bad all over again. But I knew I would have to keep my promise and visit Cerberus some time again.

"Percy Jackson, you will not-"

Percy ignored Hades. "NOW, guys!" He shouted.

We smashed the pearls at our feet. Nothing. Happened. I started to panic.

"Destroy them!" Hades yelled.

The army of skeletons charged forward at us, showing their swords and guns. The Kindly Ones swooped down and lunged at us, their whips bursting into flames.

Suddenly, the pearl fragments at our feet exploded with a burst of green light and a gust of fresh sea wind, and not a minute to soon. The skeletons had just opened fire. We were encased in a white milky sphere, just like the pearl, and started to float up.

"NO!" Hades yelled furiously. The room shook again and I felt very bad for the people in L.A. I made up my mind to never live there.

"Look up!" Grover yelled. "We're going to crash!"

I looked up and saw the bubbles racing straight up towards the stalactites on the ceiling. Styx.

I tried leaning in my bubble to make it go another way, but it didn't work. "How do you control these things?" I shouted.

"I don't think you do!" Percy shouted back.

The bubbles were approaching the stalactites, which were sure to pop the bubbles and maim us. We screamed as we slammed into the ceiling. Then, it all went dark.

My first question was: _Are we dead?_ It was probably racing through Grover and Percy's minds also.

But, I could still feel. I felt that I was moving upwards. We were going up, right through the solid rock. And easily.

Finally, the pearls broke through on the ocean floor. We soared upwards through the water and with a _BLAM, _exploded onto the surface in the middle of the Santa Monica Bay, resulting in knocking a surfer of this board.

"DUDE!" He shouted.

We ignored him. Percy dragged Grover over to a life buoy. Then he dragged me over too, though I was perfectly capable of swimming myself. A great white shark eleven feet long was circling around us. It was kind of freaky, to tell the truth.

"Beat it." Percy said to the shark. It turned around and raced away.

"AAH!" The surfer screamed. "Bad mushrooms, dude! What's with you hodads? I'm shredding outta here!"_*****_

He paddled away from us as fast as he could, still screaming. It was kind of amusing.

In the distance, I could see Los Angeles was on fire. Plumes of smoke were rising from neighborhoods all over the city. I grimaced as I saw the results of the earthquake caused by Hades. Ouch.

Somehow, I knew that today was the morning of June 21st. Styx. We didn't have much time left at all.

"Hey, look over there!" I said, pointing at a boat coming our way.

It was a Coast Guard boat, coming to pick us up. Thank the gods. There was no way I could swim all the way back myself.

"Grover!" Percy shouted. He took off his shoes and threw them at Grover, who managed to catch them. "Put the shoes on," Percy told a bewildered Grover.

I understand what Percy was doing. "You don't want them seeing your hooves," I explained to Grover.

Grover nodded and slipped Percy's shoes onto his bare hooves, just seconds before the Coast Guard boat appeared.

As we got on, their radio was jammed with a ton of calls about more people needing saving. The Coast Guard didn't so much as look us over, which was good, because I wasn't sure we'd have an explanation if he asked us how we got in the middle of the bay.

They dropped us off at the Santa Monica Pier and gave us free towels and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! Then they sped away to save more people.

The towels really didn't help us with our clothes, which were sopping wet, even Percy's. I guess he figured it would look suspicious if he wasn't soaked with water, so he willed himself to stay wet. That was actually pretty smart of him. It was his second smart move in Santa Monica.

We stumbled down the beach, exhausted from our trip to the Underworld. As we watched Los Angeles burn against the sunrise, I remembered all about the trickery.

"I don't believe it," I said. "We went all that way-"

"It was a trick," Percy said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."

"Hey!" I warned. _Don't go saying my mother planned this, because she wouldn't._

"You get it, don't you?" Percy asked.

I dropped my eyes. "Yeah. I get it."

I remembered Percy's prophecy, the one where he left out some things. But I remembered one line in particular: You shall go west and face the god who has turned. We all thought that was Hades, but it wasn't. It was the god who gave us the backpack with the master bolt in it-Ares. And not only did Ares steal the master bolt, but he also stole Hades' Helm of Darkness. But how did Ares even get them? He would have to have a demigod take it…

"Well, I don't!" Grover whined. "Would somebody-"

I remembered Percy having to make a decision whether or not to save his mother. It was obvious he loved her. "Percy… I'm sorry about your mother," I said. "I'm so sorry…"

Percy pretended not to hear me, but I could see his nose was starting to turn red like he was about to cry.

"The prophecy was right," Percy said. "'You shall go west and face the god who has turned.' But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three. Someone else pulled off the theft. Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades' helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid. Poseidon will get blamed by both sides. By sundown today, there will be a three-way war. And I'll have caused it."

Grover shook his head. "But who would be that sneaky? Who would want war that bad?"

Grover suddenly stopped in his tracks and gazed down the beach. "Gee, let me think."

I followed his gaze and saw Ares. He was waiting for us, holding an aluminum baseball bat on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, its headlight turning the sand red.

"Hey, kid," Are said. For some reason, he looked pleased to see Percy. "You were supposed to die."

"You tricked me," Percy accused. "_You _stole the helm and the master bolt."

Are grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. Gods taking each other's symbols of power-that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands."

"Who did you use?" Percy asked. "Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice."

Ares using his won kid sounded believable, but I didn't think it worked. Not even Clarisse seemed like the type ho would steal from gods.

The idea of using Clarisse to steal seemed to have amused Ares. "Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort. See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath will have Zeus' master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at _him_. And Hades is still looking for this…"

Ares took out a black mask that robbers wore from out of his pocket and laced it between the handlebars of his motorcycle. Instantly, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet. Hades' Helm of Darkness.

"The helm of darkness," Grover gasped.

"Exactly," Ares said. "Now where was I? Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slug fest going."

Why was Ares doing this? "But they're your family!" I protested.

Ares shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like your relatives fight, I always say."

_Then you should get a new saying._

"You gave me the backpack in Denver," Percy said. "The master bolt was in there the whole time."

"Yes and no," Ares said. "It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow, but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like the sword you got, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right? Anyway, I tinkered with the magic a bit, so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get to Hades…Bingo, you got mail. If you died along the way-no loss. I still had the weapon."

"But why not just keep the master bolt for yourself?" Percy asked. "Why send it to Hades?"

That was a good point. Why would the god of war send of a powerful weapon? Strangely, Ares twitched his jaw and for a moment, he seemed as though he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I…yeah…with that kind of fire-power…"

He held the trance. What was going on? I exchanged nervous looks with Percy.

Just as suddenly, Ares' face cleared. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught red-handed, holding the thing."

It didn't sound that convincing to me. Apparently, Percy didn't find it that convincing either.

"You're lying," Percy accused. "Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"

"Of course it was!" Ares shouted. Smoke drifted up from his sunglasses, as if they were about to catch fire.

"You didn't order the theft," Percy guessed. "Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief. But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go. You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."

I stared at Percy, shocked. How did he figure that out?

"I am the god of war!" Ares protested. "I take orders from no one! I don't have dreams!"

Dreams?

"Who said anything about dreams?" Percy asked.

Ares looked agitated, but he tried to cover it up with a smirk.

"Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."

Still offended here.

Ares snapped his fingers and the sand at his feet exploded. Out charged a wild boar, one like the one whose had hung above the door of Ares' cabin, but even larger and uglier. The boar pawed the sand and glared at Percy with beady eyes. It lowered its razor-sharp tusks, waiting for the command to kill.

Oh, Styx.

* * *

*** Hodad- a non-surfer. Shred- to surf aggressively. Haha! Surfer slang. If I used any wrong, just tell me... I'm not a surfer.**

**There's only a few more chapters left in this story, and I fully intend to finish before September ends! Sooo... I'm on a mission now! Yay!  
**


	24. Chapter 24

**Yay! After... more than a week I have posted the twenty-fourth chapter! Hold the applause! :P I actually had this chapter ready a few days ago, but for some reason, my computer in my room doesn't really let me post it. It's kind of old, so when I click on publish, the menu doesn't appear under it, and only the guide page... but I can get it onto document manager... but I can't publish it... So, sorry.**

**Disclaimer: Do I have to keep doing this or do I only have to do this once? I don't own the characters...  
**

Chapter 24

The boar glared at us with a malicious look in its eyes. Grover and I took a small step back.

Percy, however, stepped into the surf. "Fight me yourself, Ares."

_Um… I think I'd rather fight the boar than Ares._ After all, Ares was a _god. _Gods had lots of power.

Ares laughed. But there was a little uneasiness in his laughter. It was barely noticeable, but I still heard it. "You've only got one talent, kid, running away."

That wasn't exactly true. Percy had really good talent with water. I was both lucky and unlucky enough to have experienced that.

"You ran from the Chimera. You ran from the Underworld." Ares said. "You don't have what it takes."

"Scared?" Percy asked.

"In your adolescent dreams." Ares snapped. But as he said that, I could see his sunglasses melting from the heat of his eyes. "No direct involvement. Sorry, kid. You're not at my level."

Suddenly, the boar started to charge straight at Percy with a deadly look in its eyes.

"Percy, run!" I shouted.

To my horror, he didn't run. Instead, he pulled out his sword and sidestepped as the boar rushed at him.

Percy slashed upward and the boar's right tusk fell down to Percy's feet. The boar charged into the sea.

"WAVE!" Percy shouted.

A wave immediately sprung up from nowhere. It wrapped around the boar like a blanket. The boar squealed once before it was gone, swallowed up by the sea.

Percy turned to Ares with a defiant look on his face. "Are you going to fight me now?" He asked. "Or are you going to hide behind another pet pig?"

Ares' face turned purple. His sunglasses were almost melted. Wow, he was really mad. "Watch it, kid." Ares warned. "I could turn you into-"

"A cockroach." Percy finished indifferently. "Or a tapeworm. Yeah, I'm sure. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it?"

Whatever Percy was doing, I wasn't exactly sure it was that smart.

Flames danced along the top of Ares' glasses. "Oh, man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot."

"If I lose, turn me into anything you want. Take the bolt." Percy said. "If I win, the helm and the bolt are mine and _you _have to go away."

Ares sneered and swung the baseball bat off his shoulder. "How would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"

Percy held up his sword.

"That's cool, dead boy." Ares scoffed. "Classic it is."

His baseball changed into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt of the sword was a large silver skull that had a ruby in its mouth. It looked like a deadly weapon. Percy couldn't do this. He couldn't fight Ares! Did he know how deadly gods could be? It was dangerous! He might possibly die!

"Percy!" I said, panicked. "Don't do this. He's a god."

"He's a coward." Percy said angrily.

I swallowed. I knew there was no changing Percy's mind. I looked down at my necklace and had a silent argument with myself. Finally, I decided. "Wear this, at least. For luck."

I took of my necklace that had the more beads than any other camper had on it, not to mention my father's ring, and tied it around Percy's neck, my hands slightly shaking.

"Reconciliation." I said. "Athena and Poseidon together."

Percy turned red. He smiled and said, "Thanks."

"And take this," Grover added, handing Percy a flattened tin can. He had been saving it in his pocket for a long time. "The satyrs stand behind you."

"Grover… I don't know what to say," Percy said.

Grover patted Percy on the shoulder and Percy stuffed the can in his pocket.

"You all done saying goodbye?" Ares asked, coming towards us. "I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?"

Ares had strength. Only strength. I faintly recalled telling Percy back in Denver that strength had to bow to wisdom sometimes. I turned around to tell Percy, but I saw he was backing away.

_What is he doing? _Then I saw he was heading deeper into the water. Ares had strength, but Percy had water.

Ares cleaved downward at Percy's head. I almost screamed for Percy to look out, but Percy didn't get hit. Instead, the water pushed him into the air and catapulted Percy over Ares. Percy slashed down at Ares' spine, but Ares deflected the sword.

"Not bad, not bad." Ares said.

Then Ares slashed again, forcing Percy to jump onto the land. Percy tried to sidestep and get back into the water, but Ares knew what Percy wanted to do. Not wanting to have any more of Percy and his water tactics, Ares outmaneuvered Percy. He was pressing so hard. I wanted to scream at Percy to do something, but do what?

I glanced over at Grover and we both exchanged worried looks.

Percy had to keep backing away from the water. He couldn't find any openings to attack Ares. His sword was several feet shorter than Ares'. I groaned, thinking Percy should have trained more. He had the shorter blade, which meant he had to get in close. I remembered Luke telling me that when he was teaching me to fight.

As if sensing what I was thinking, Percy stepped inside and thrust his sword, but Ares knocked his sword out of hands and kicked Percy in the chest. It looked painfully hard. I panicked. What if Percy broke his back? He wouldn't be able to fight, then. And then… Ares would…. Kill him. Percy couldn't die, not after how far in the quest we got!

To my relief, Percy landed on the soft sand of a dune. He looked like his breath was knocked out momentarily, but besides that he was okay. Suddenly, I heard sirens and turned around.

"Percy!" I yelled. "Cops!"

A small crowd had gathered at the shoreline, watching the fight. Just great. A police car drove over, lights flashing. The cops got out and slammed the door.

"There, officer!" Someone yelled. "See?"

"Looks like that kind on TV," The cop said. "What the heck…"

"That guy's armed." Another cop said. "Call for backup."

I turned around and saw Percy had gotten up and had just narrowly missed Ares' blade. Percy ran for his sword and picked it up. He launched a swipe at Ares' face, but Ares deflected again.

It was no good. Ares was the god of war. He knew how to fight. He knew what Percy was going to do. Percy, on the other hand, hadn't been trained well enough. Could he actually use his ADHD as his battlefield reflexes?

Percy stepped back toward the surf and forced Ares to follow.

"Admit it kid," Ares said. "You got no hope. I'm just toying with you."

Hope. I wanted to yell at Percy not to listen to Ares. If Percy didn't have hope, he wouldn't be able to win. He had to hope. I opened my mouth, but something else caught my attention.

I looked over at the crowd of spectators. Another police car had pulled up, but that wasn't what caught my attention. In the crowd, there were satyrs disguised as humans.

I looked at Grover who seemed equally as shocked at me.

Glancing back at the crowd, I saw there were also spirits who were watching. I heard the flap of leathery wings above us. I looked up. The Kindly Ones were watching down at us.

Percy's eyes seemed to grow wide. Percy tried to step farther into the water, but Ares slashed, making the tip of his sword rip Percy's sleeve and graze his forearm.

A police got out of the car with a megaphone. "Drop the guns!" He blared. "Set them on the ground. Now!"

The guns? Was that were Ares' and Percy's weapons looked like to the mortals? I turned and looked at Ares' sword. It was flickering between a two-handed sword and a shotgun. Percy's was also flickering between a sword and shotgun.

Ares turned and glared at the crowd. There were now five police cars. A line of officers was crouching behind them with pistols trained on Ares and Percy.

"This is a private matter!" Ares bellowed. "Be gone!"

With a wave of his hand, a wall of red flames rolled across the patrol cars. The police barely had any time to dive for cover before all their cars exploded. The crowd, horrified, began to scatter, screaming about a maniac on the loose.

Ares roared with laughter, finding the whole thing very amusing. "Now, little hero. Let's add you to the barbecue."

Grover and I caught our breaths and again exchanged scared looks.

I was always afraid for Percy for fighting against Ares, but now I was down right terrified after seeing what Ares didn't hesitate to do to mere mortals.

I looked over at Percy. He didn't look scared at all. In fact, he had a look on his face that I, myself, was familiar with. He had gotten an idea. Percy had led Ares behind him into the sea.

The water behind Percy receded. The waves weren't calming down, but were staying behind, building tension.

Ares walked towards Percy, smirking. Percy lowered his blade with a look on him like he was too tired to go on. Was he faking it? I studied him more closely. He had a tiny satisfied smirk on his face. Just as Ares raised his sword, Percy released the water he had been holding back and jumped. He rocketed straight over Ares on a wave.

A huge wall of water even taller than me smashed into Ares' face. He cursed obscenities and spluttered through a mouth full of seaweed. Percy landed behind him with a splash. He again feinted for Ares' head. Ares, who was disorientated, had only time to raise his sword and didn't realize Percy was faking. Before Ares knew it, Percy had changed direction, lunged to the side, and stabbed Ares' heel.

Ares roared furiously. Who knew roars could be that loud? But, they could, and this made Hades' earthquakes seem like a minor event. As if poor Los Angeles hadn't had enough. The sea was blasted back from Ares, leaving a wet circle of sand fifty feet wide.

Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, leaked out from a gash on Ares' boot. I stared at it. Grover and I stared at each other, then Percy, then, to Ares, who looked shocked at the fact he'd been wounded, then back to he blood.

We were probably as shocked at Ares. I couldn't believe Percy actually wounded Ares! Percy, a demigod who didn't have enough training in the battle arena, wounded Ares, the god of war, the "all-so powerful god" and the one who couldn't get hurt in a battle. Would Ares ever hear the end of this?

Ares looked up, raged. He started limping towards Percy, muttering things that would get me into trouble if I said them out loud.

Ares looked like he was going to kill Percy, but before Ares could do anything harsh, something stopped him. Suddenly, sound and color faded away. What was happening? A cold and heavy presence passed over the beach. It slowed time and dropped the temperature to freezing. I was suddenly overcome with emotion. Life was hopeless and fighting was useless.

As quickly as it came, the darkness lifted. Ares looked around, stunned. I stared at the ichor flowing out of Ares and thought about what had just happened. Time had slowed. And who was the god of time? It was more like a titan. Kronos.

What really happened then? I remembered Ares saying he didn't have dreams. I realized what those dreams he "didn't have" were about. They were like Percy's dreams. Kronos was controlling Ares through Ares' dreams. He whole thing was Kronos' idea, not Ares'. And for some reason, Kronos had stopped Ares from killing Percy.

Ares lowered his sword. "You have made an enemy, godling," He said to Percy. I suddenly remembered at the diner in Denver when I had told Percy he didn't want the god of war as his enemy This wasn't good. "You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson. Beware."

Ares was a really sore loser.

Ares' body began to glow. He was changing into his true form.

"Percy!" I yelled. "Don't watch!" _Unless you want to disintegrate, that is._

I closed my eyes and covered them with my hand. When the light finally died, I looked back. Ares was gone. The tide rolled out to reveal Hades' helm of darkness. At least Ares kept his promise.

Percy picked up the helm and started to walk to Grover and me. Before he reached us, the three Kindly Ones swooped down from the sky and landed in front of Percy.

I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I saw Percy toss the helm of darkness to the Kindly One in the middle and her catch it in surprise. Then all three Kindly Ones flew up into the sky and disappeared.

When Percy finally joined Grover and me, we were both staring at him.

"Percy…" Grover sad. "That was so incredibly…"

"Terrifying," I said.

"Cool!" Grover corrected.

Eh…

"Did you guys feel that…whatever it was?" Percy asked us. We knew what he was talking about and both nodded uneasily.

"Must've been the Furies overhead." Grover said.

Percy didn't seem convinced. He looked at me and realization dawned on his face. He knew what was in Tartarus.

"We have to get back to New York." Percy said. "By tonight."

Tonight? "That's impossible," I said. "Unless we-"

"Fly," Percy agreed. He spoke so indifferently that I stared at him.

"Fly, like in an airplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strike you out of the sky, _and_ carrying a weapon that has ore destructive power than a nuclear bomb?" I clarified.

"Yeah, pretty much exactly like that," Percy said. "Come on."

Again, I was reminded that not all of Percy's plans were exactly the smartest, but unfortunately, what other option did we have?

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**Okay, this time I PROMISE you I will post the next chapter in less than a week! So, for now... read a nice book or pop a bag of popcorn or something!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Ack! I'm so sorry! I fail at keeping promises! I'm blaming... my teachers for giving me too much homework! No? Fine... I'll blame... Fanfiction. Is anyone besides me experiencing a ton of glitches? I mean, I'll be trying to open up a page on Fanfiction and it'll just say there was an error while processing the request and it won't open! That's happened so many times already it's so annoying! I can't look at some chapters on some other stories and I can't even look at my reviews. Please tell me someone else is experiencing it too! If I'm the only one experiencing it, I will... be really annoyed. Anyway, I made this chapter longer! I think there's only one more chapter after this one, so enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own it.  
**

Chapter 25

Mortals can be really crazy sometimes. It's really kind of shameful, but helpful, too. They didn't question us on our journey. Instead, they made up their own idea of what we went through.

According to them, we had been kidnapped by this crazy kidnapper (coughAres) in New York and were brought across country on a "ten-day odyssey of terror." It's not like we were going to object and tell them the real story.

The mortals went on to say that the kidnapper had caused the explosion at the Santa Monica beach when he fired a shotgun at the police and accidentally hit a gas main that ruptured during the earthquake.

Percy –big shocker here- wasn't actually a criminal all along! He had caused a commotion on the Greyhound bus in New Jersey to try to get away from the kidnapper. Apparently, people even saw Ares on the bus. The crazy man (I wondered how Ares was taking all these names the mortals were calling him.) had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening us outside her diner and had gotten her friend to take a photo, then notified the police.

Then, Percy braved up and stole a gun from the kidnapper in Los Angeles, where they battled shotgun-to-rifle on the beach. The police had arrived just in time, but during the explosion where five police cars had been destroyed, the captor had fled. No fatalities occurred.

Now Percy, Grover, and I were in police custody. As the reporters fed us the whole story, we played along and nodded, acting tearful and exhausted, playing victimized kids for the cameras. Percy got a little too into the job.

"All I want," Percy gasped, choking back his "tears", "is to see my loving stepfather again. Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew…somehow…we would be okay. And I know he'll want to reward each and every person in the beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store. Here's the phone number."

Nice one, Percy. I wondered if Percy's stepfather was watching the TV right now. What would he be saying? Probably a lot of ugly words.

The police and reporters were so moved by Percy's speech that they passed around a hat and raised money for three tickets to the next plane to New York.

All the while when we were boarding the plane, Percy was as white as a ghost. He clutched his hands on his armrests (and one of mine) and he wouldn't let go.

"Percy, relax," I said.

Percy started breathing loudly. "I know, I know," he said, but he wouldn't let go of the armrests.

I, myself, was wondering how it was going to go. Would Zeus be mad and kill us? But that didn't seem likely. After all, he most likely didn't want to risk harming his master bolt.

Grover and I exchanged looks. Grover started eating a tin can, attracting strange looks from people sitting around us and from a flight attendant.

"Um, are you okay, little boy?" an uncertain flight attendant asked. Little boy?

"Huh?" Grover asked, looking up. "What do you mean?" Then he realized people had noticed him eating a tin can. "Oh, this?" He asked. "Um… I'm not actually eating it… I'm sucking on it. Did you know that tin cans have a lot of minerals? They're… very good for your health." He looked to Percy and me for help.

"Yeah," Percy said. "Haven't you heard?"

"It's made the front page in the New York Times," I added. "It's a… new fad for people our age, actually. In our school, tons of people carry around tin cans for snacks."

* * *

The plane ride went smoothly, but I suspected that the turbulence was a little bumpier than usual. When we finally landed, Percy had already turned three shades of green. He finally let go of the armrests and we filed off the plane. There was one problem: the local press was waiting for us outside security, wanting to get the "newest scoop" on our side of the story.

"Uh-oh," Grover mumbled.

"Now what?" Percy asked.

"We need a way to distract them…" I said. "Hold on, I'll be right back. Meet me at the baggage claim."

I put on my invisibility cap and passed through security. Walking near to the local press, I could hear them mumbling about where Percy Jackson was.

"Look, there's Percy Jackson!" I yelled as loud as I could.

The press looked up eagerly, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Gabbi? Is that you?" A woman asked. "Where are you?"

"They're over by the frozen yogurt!" I yelled. "Come on!"

The press stampeded towards the food court. I ran in front of them, shouting, "Hurry up!"

Finally, a few yards before the press neared the food court, I ran off, leaving them stampeding towards the yogurt stand, yelling, "Percy Jackson! Could we have a minute?"

I ran as fast as I could over to baggage claim. By the time I got there, I was panting and out of breathe. Grover and Percy were standing, looking around nervously.

I poked Percy and Grover on the back at the same time. They both jumped up high, startled. "Guys, it's me!" I whispered. I couldn't take the cap off since there were too many people.

Percy gave a small nod and we all exited the airport, where once it was clear, I took off my cap.

As we got in line at the taxi stand, Percy turned towards Grover and me and said, "Look, guys. I have to get to Olympus, but you guys need to go back to camp and tell Chiron what happened.

"What?" Grover and I asked at the same time. "No, we're going with you!"

"Guys, please," Percy begged.

"We've been with you through the quest for this long, at least let us go to Olympus with you," I argued.

"I just… I just want Chiron to know the truth… in case I don't survive," Percy said, finishing the last part in a hurry and small voice.

Grover and I exchanged looks. "Percy, don't worry," Grover said. "You'll survive."

Was he really afraid of what was going to happen? Actually, there was no telling what would happen at Olympus. Would Zeus be glad he got the master bolt back or would he blast Percy to bits? I hoped it was the first option.

Percy looked so desperate that Grover and I eventually agreed with him, but reluctantly. We said our goodbyes and Grover and I took a taxi to Camp Half-Blood.

* * *

When we arrived at camp, Connor Stoll's eyes grew as big as dinner plates.

"Annabeth! Grover!" Connor yelled, a smile plastered on his face. He was high up in the tree on lookout duty. Connor blew the conch horn, alerting everyone we were back, before he shrieked and promptly fell off the tree.

Grover and I fell over laughing as Connor, grumbling, got up and dusted himself off. He shook his arms and legs, tugging down his still small shirt, and fidgeted around in his too tight pants. Almost instantly after, his frown was replaced with a big grin.

That was the way Connor and his twin Travis always were. They were two mischievous boys, who always had smiles on their faces. They would play pranks on the other campers or even steal some stuff, so everyone always had to be careful around them.

Connor ran up to us. "You guys are back! No way!" he exclaimed. He walked with us towards Thalia's pine tree. Finally, he noticed Percy wasn't with us and asked, "Where's Percy?"

"Hm? Oh, he's at Olympus," I said. "And yes, we did come through with the quest," I added, answering the question on Connor's face.

Connor grinned. "Great! Of course, the last quest anybody went on was Luke's… and that didn't go well… but…"

Luke's quest wasn't talked about much along the campers. Luke had begged for a quest and Hermes had finally given him one: to seek a Golden Apple at the Garden of Hesperides. At first he had been thrilled and grinning when he told me about it, but later on, he began to grow paranoid, saying Hercules had already done the quest before. He grew mad at Hermes for not thinking of something more original that hadn't been done before. Luke had wanted to seem like a hero. Nevertheless, he went on the quest, but something went wrong, and he failed. The dragon in the garden scarred him. When he came back, Luke didn't seem very happy.

"Oh," Connor said suddenly, snapping me out of my thought. He tossed a tin can to Grover. "Here, you might want this back, Grover."

Grover caught the can, looking bewildered. He felt around in his pocket and realized the tin can he had stuck in there wasn't in there anymore.

"Connor, you have to stop stealing things," I chided.

"Aw, come on now. I gave it back, didn't I?" Connor chuckled.

We finally arrived at Thalia's pine tree and went past the borderline.

"How long do you think we have until everyone comes out?" Grover asked.

"I'm not sure," I said. "The conch was blown a few minutes ago, so I say at the most, one minute." Great. We had wanted to get to Chiron to explain what happened before the entire camp would mob us.

"Well, I suggest you make a run for it," Connor said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have some candy to steal… Which reminds me… I need some more whipped cream…"

Connor raced off. Grover and I could hear people running towards us. We looked at each other and took off running towards the Big House. We got just a few yards away from the perch when the crowd caught up with us.

"ANNABETH! GROVER! YOU'RE BACK! YOU SURVIVED!"

"GOOD JOB, GUYS!"

'WAY TO GO!"

"WHAT HAPPENED? HOW WAS THE QUEST?"

Everyone crowded around us, asking us for details.

"DID YOU SUCCEED?"

Finally, Grover and I bellowed, "SHUT UP!"

Everyone immediately quieted down.

"Does it look like there's a full-out war going on right now?" I asked, annoyed. "I think not."

"Hey, where's Percy?" Someone asked, not responding to what I was saying.

"Yeah!" Everyone chorused. "What happened? He didn't die, did he?"

This was starting to get annoying.

Finally, Chiron stepped out of the house. Thank the gods.

"Everyone, settle down," he called, holding up his hand.

Everyone shushed down.

"Grover and Annabeth, please come inside," Chiron said, beckoning us with his hand.

The crowd groaned dejectedly as Grover and I followed Chiron inside the Big House.

We sat down and finally explained the whole story to Chiron. Grover and I kept cutting in if the other left out a part or said something wrong by mistake. Finally, when we finished telling the story,

Chiron leaned back in his chair, looking perplexed. He glanced out the window towards the sky. There were a few gray clouds, but nothing severe.

"It looks like things have gone well," he mused. "Thank you, Annabeth and Grover. Congratulations to your success. You may go."

Grover and I nodded and stood up, waving goodbye to Chiron as we left. But before we were fully out the door, I could hear Chiron mumbling something. One word that stood out in particular was "Kronos". So he was worried too. What was happening with Kronos?

Outside, the crowd was still waiting for us. Great.

When they saw us coming out, they immediately came forward.

"Nice job, guys!" someone yelled.

"Thanks…" Grover and I said as we tried to push our way through the crowd.

"No, seriously, awesome job! You guys are celebrities!"

Yeah, right. I wouldn't go that far. But it was nice to know that we were admired.

"Thanks, guys, but, we, um, have to go now…" I said.

Grover and I tried running away from the crowd, but they followed us, cheering and shouting our names. Well, at least they were being nice.

One person sprinted away from the crowd and ran up to us. It was Luke.

"Hey," Luke said.

I looked over at Luke. There was something off about him, something different. I felt my cheeks grow faintly warm at the sight of him, but it felt odd that when I saw him, I didn't immediately react like I used to, for some reason. "Hi, Luke."

"You guys survived," Luke said.

Grover and I nodded.

"Congratulations on the quest," Luke said, but I saw something in his eyes… was it annoyance? But then Luke blinked, and it was gone.

"Thanks," Grover and I said.

"So… where's Percy? He didn't… die, did he?" Luke asked.

I groaned. "Why does everyone think that?"

Grover shrugged. "I think they like thinking that. It's like they need something interesting to talk about."

"Right, because us completing a quest isn't interesting enough," I scoffed.

"I didn't say it wasn't," Grover said, holding up his hands.

"So… is Percy really still alive?" Luke asked us in a strange voice.

We looked at him.

"Yeah…" Grover said.

Luke didn't say anything for a second, but then broke into a grin. "Congratulations, guys!" He looked behind him, then said, "I'll see you around." He jogged off.

Was it just my imagination or was Luke acting…weirdly? I brushed aside that thought when I found the Athena cabin. A kind of relief washed over me. It was good to be back.

As I waved goodbye to Grover and went over to open the door, the crowd caught up with me.

"Annabeth! At least tell us what happened!" one person said.

I looked over at Grover who shrugged helplessly, then nodded.

"Fine! You want to know what happened?" I asked. The crowd nodded. "We went west to the Underworld because we thought Hades had stolen the master bolt, but once we got down, we found out it wasn't Hades and he didn't even have his helm. So when we went back up we realized Ares was the one who had stolen both those items and Percy battled Ares and won and got the master bolt and the helm, and now Percy is currently in Olympus giving the master bolt back to Zeus. Oh, and along the way to the Underworld, we met Medusa and defeated her, we got stuck in a dumb hotel, and we blew up the Gateway Arch. Any questions?"

The crowd was silent. And then, "You BLEW UP the arch?" Someone shouted. Travis Stoll.

"Yes, well, technically it was Percy, but…" I said.

Travis and Connor, who had rejoined the group, looked at each other, grinning. "Awesome!" they exclaimed together.

"And Percy actually beat Ares?" someone else shouted.

"Yes. And stop glaring at us," Grover said, joining me. He looked over at the Ares cabin and raised an eyebrow.

Several people whistled. Then everyone started clapping (except for the Ares cabin.) "PER-CY! GRO-VER! AN-NA-BETH!" They started chanting. Several people stuck their hands out for some high-fives.

"Ares was the bad guy all along?" Someone else asked.

Grover and I paused. Ares wasn't technically the bad guy. It was Kronos, who had brainwashed Ares. But we couldn't tell them that.

"You know, I just want to rest right now. It's been such a long time since I slept on a decent bed, so… goodbye."

I yanked the door open, waved to Grover, and bolted inside the cabin, followed by some of my siblings.

"Way to go, Annabeth! You guys are the first to return from a quest successfully since, like, almost forever!" Katie grinned, putting her hand up for a high-five, to which I complied.

My siblings all started crowding around me and cheering me on.

"Thanks, guys," I said. I pretended to yawn. "I'm really tired right now. Could I get some rest, please?"

The truth was I just really wanted to be in peace. My siblings agreed and they filed out of the cabin, closing the door behind them. I lay back on my bed and closed my eyes. I couldn't help worrying about Percy. He had to be alive, though. Zeus wouldn't be as stupid as to kill him. After all, there wasn't even a storm going on.

I jumped off my bed and saw a piece of paper sticking out from underneath the bed. Curious, I leaned down and picked it up. I froze. It was the letter my dad had written to me a couple of years ago.

_Dear Annabeth,_

_First, please don't throw this letter away. I want to explain something to you. I'm really sorry about all that happened at home. I know you didn't deserve what we did, and I'm sorry._

_Of course you have noticed the ring enclosed with this letter and you're wondering about it. This is my main keepsake from your mother, Athena. Without her, I wouldn't have gotten through my doctoral program at Harvard. I want you to have it. I was thinking that you needed something from her and this would be it._

Of course, this was written before I turned twelve, so I hadn't gotten my cap yet.

_I truly am sorry for the jerk I was. I love you, Annabeth, and I miss you. I was looking back at a photo album and I realized that you're my little girl who I love. I talked to your stepmom and stepbrothers and they all agreed with me that you should come home._

_Please, Annabeth. I know it didn't work out before, but this will be different. Please come home and live with me._

_Love,_

_Dad_

I just stared at the letter. How long ago was it that I had last read it and agreed? As heartfelt as it seemed, though, nothing changed. We still argued. She called me a freak. I couldn't take it anymore.

But now, looking back at the letter, I remembered something Percy had told me back on the truck.

"_You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?" Percy asked._

"_Please," I said. "I'm not into self-inflicted pain."_

"_You shouldn't give up," Percy said. "You should write him a letter or something."_

"_Thanks for the advice, but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."_

I know I said I didn't want to write a letter back to my father, but remembering this now, I glanced back at the letter. It couldn't really hurt that much to write a letter, could it? I couldn't stay at camp forever. I'd need somewhere else to go. Besides, if it was bad, it didn't have to be a permanent thing. I could just write that I wanted to try living with him again, but if it doesn't work out, I'd leave.

I sighed and absent-mindedly played with my necklace. I bit my lip and stared at the letter. Finally, I took a deep breath and got out a piece of paper and a pencil. Then, I started writing.

* * *

**Has anyone noticed that I avoid saying Annabeth's Yankees cap? Wanna guess why? I'll give you a virtual lollipop if you're right. **

**O- - -  
**

**Let's pretend it's lying on its side... Yes, that was the lollipop. Nice, right? It can be... I don't know... tell me what flavor you want.  
**


	26. Chapter 26

_***UPDATE: The Quest for the Golden Fleece, the sequel to this story, has been posted! I'd really appreciate it if you checked it out and I do hope you liked this story! :D***_

**First, let me just say I feel extremely guilty for not updating sooner. School has just been such a pain. I just had a big essay due, I have big tests coming up, a ton of homework, and I have to research a lot of stuff and make a powerpoint and all that stuff... =( But I made this chapter my longest! Second, this is the last chapter! :-o I can't believe it's already been almost six months since I first posted this! And lastly, props to everyone who answered my question in the last chapter. Half-lollipops c - - ****(don't ask what happened to the other halves...) ****that are any flavor you want go out to fudgemonkey87 and Kitten-the-Wolf, and one third of a cola flavored one to mythology boy. But, a full virtual lollipop O - - - goes to DiamondDragonFang-Pertemis who requested for a LUKE FLAVORED LOLLIPOP! *Goes and finds Luke* AH-HA! *Dramatic scenes omitted* Here you go, DiamondDragonFang-Pertemis. O - - - Yes, I don't like the Yankees team. And all you Yankees fans out there, don't blow up... Please? Seriously, I really don't want any of you getting mad... I mean, I'm entitled to my own opinion... so please don't get mad... *ducks for cover* I'm sorry if I offended any of you... but don't start reviewing saying I suck... I mean, this is the last chapter... and I never really intended for anyone to get really mad by this... I'll feel really bad if I offended anyone... Anyway, sorry for the extremely long A/N  
**

**Disclaimer: Nope. I don't own PJO.  
**

Chapter 26

When Percy got back from Olympus, we were allowed to have a huge celebration. There was a big feast prepared in our honor. Wearing the laurel wreaths that were part of the camp tradition, we then led a procession down to the bonfire to burn the burial shrouds that our cabins had made for us when we were gone.

My shroud was so beautiful. I was really proud of my siblings for pulling it off. It was gray silk with embroidered owls on it.

"Wow. It's a shame not to bury you in it," Percy remarked.

I punched him and told him to shut up, but I was smiling.

Besides, Percy was just probably sore over his shroud. Since he didn't have any cabin mates, the Ares cabin volunteered to make his shroud. Yeah, they obviously didn't do that great of a job on it. It was an old bed sheet with smiley faces painted on them around the border. Nice, right? Only the smiley faces' eyes were X'ed-out, and the world LOSER was painted really, really big in the middle.

Grover had gotten a brand-new searcher's license from the Council of Cloven Elders and was beaming over it. The council had called Grover's performance on the quest "brave to the point of indigestion. Horns-and-whiskers above anything we have seen in the past."

Percy told us what happened on Olympus. Zeus _was _really mad at Percy for "daring to fly through" his domain. _Zeus_ probably had caused the extra turbulence.

Percy told Zeus all of what happened and returned the master bolt to him. Zeus sensed what Percy said was true. Percy told them about his dreams, also, and how he thought that _something _down in Tartarus was stirring.

Poseidon and Zeus had a discussion in Ancient Greek, and Percy said that he only understand one word they were saying. Father. And Poseidon and Zeus' father would be the one and only Kronos.

After they finished the discussion, Zeus told Percy that Percy had done well. Percy said he tried to give us credit, but Zeus cut him off. Zeus said that to show his thanks, he would spare Percy's life. He said he didn't trust Percy and that he didn't like what Percy's arrival meant for the future of Olympus, but "for the sake of peace in the family", he would let Percy live… How generous.

After Zeus made one of his favorite dramatic exits, Percy talked to Poseidon. Percy had also thought Kronos was in Tartarus and Poseidon confirmed it. Poseidon (to my disappointment upon hearing) quickly closed discussion of Kronos. He told Percy that his mom (thankfully) was back. Hades had sent her back home when Percy recovered his helm.

Before Percy left, Poseidon told Percy he would find a package waiting in his room. Percy then went home and reunited with his mother. When he told us this, he had a big beam on his face. Gabe was being a… *cough* pig. Percy told us, much to our shock and horror, that Gabe had hit his mother before. Percy found the package Poseidon was talking about on his bed. It was the one containing Medusa's head the he had mailed to the gods. He told his mom that if she wanted Gabe gone, she could use Medusa's head. But, surprisingly, he didn't force it. He gave her the choice whether to do it or not.

Later, Percy told us his mom had sold a sculpture called _The Poker Player_ to a collector. Wow, Sally must have been a great sculptor.

* * *

The fourth of July came around. Everyone, including me, was excited for the fireworks show that the Hephaestus cabin was putting on. They weren't your regular fireworks. Being the kids of Hephaestus, the fireworks they made were over the top. The fireworks were amazing. They were sequenced blasts that looked like frames of animation across the sky.

We all gathered by the beach for the fireworks display. The Hephaestus kids had anchored a barge offshore and loaded it with huge rockets. Percy and I were spreading out a picnic blanket when Grover came up to us to say good-bye. He had been granted permission to find Pan.

"I'm off," Grover said. "I just came to say…well, you know."

Grover had been growing in the past weeks. He looked older, his goatee had gotten thicker, and his horns had grown at least an inch. He looked almost high-school age, but I couldn't help feeling worried for him. Looking for Pan was what satyrs did, but none had come back alive for two thousand years. It was a mystery, though. Why was it? I just hoped Grover would survive. He was definitely smart enough to.

I hugged Grover, telling him to keep his fake feet on.

"Where are you going to search first?" Percy asked.

"Kind of a secret," Grover said, embarrassed. "I wish you could come with me, guys, but humans and Pan…"

Grover trailed off.

"We understand," I said. "You got enough tin cans for the trip?"

"Yeah."

"And you remembered your reed pipes?" I asked.

"Jeez, Annabeth," Grover grumbled. "You're like an old mama goat."

Well, I couldn't help worrying over a friend.

"Well, wish me luck," Grover said.

He hugged me and clapped Percy on the shoulder before heading back through the dunes.

Overhead, the fireworks exploded. Hercules killing the Nemean lion was shown on the sky, as well as Artemis chasing the boar, and George Washington, proudly son of Athena, crossing the Delaware.

"Hey, Grover!" Percy called after Grover's retreating figure,

Grover turned around at the edge of the woods.

"Wherever you're going-I hope they make good enchiladas," Percy said.

Grover grinned, and then he was swallowed up by the trees.

I felt worry growing inside myself. I hoped Grover would survive. He had to. He was the best satyr out there. I looked over at Percy and saw that he was worried, too.

"We'll see him again," I said.

Percy just nodded.

The loud booms drew our attention, and we finished watching the colorful fireworks explode across the sky.

* * *

Was it really already the last night of the summer session? As we had our last meal together, I looked back onto how I had spent my summer. July was very unproductive. Well, we had won capture-the-flag a lot, and I had worked on my training, but besides that, what did I do? Was it just me or were the days passing way too quickly?_*****_

When we were awarded our end-of-summer beads, Percy was speechless. The bead was pitch black with a sea-green trident shimmering in the middle.

"The choice was unanimous!" Luke announced. "This bead commemorates the first Son of the Sea God at this camp, and the quest he undertook into the darkest part of the Underworld to stop a war!"

The whole camp stood up and cheered.

"Come on, Annabeth. Go and share the glory!" My siblings said. They steered me towards the front so I could share the applause, too.

As the whole camp applauded, I wished that the night would never end.

* * *

Dear Annabel Cane,

If you intend to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round, you must inform the Big House by noon today. If you do not announce your intentions, we will assume you have vacated your cabin or died a horrible death. Cleaning harpies will begin work at sundown. They will be authorized to eat any unregistered campers. All the personal articles left behind will be incinerated in the lava pit.

Have a nice day!

Mr. D (Dionysus)

Camp Director, Olympian Council #12

As I read over the letter and the name Mr. D kept on getting wrong, I thought back to the reply my dad had sent to me. He said it was a great idea and that he would pick me up. I chewed my lip anxiously and wondered what it would be like at my dad's house. It was the first time since years when I didn't stay at camp year-round. I couldn't help but worry.

But I had told him I'd go, and he was already planning on picking me up. I had no choice but to pack.

After I finished packing, I decided to take a walk outside to clear my head. I passed the cabins, the Big House, the climbing wall, everything. I was going to miss this place.

Suddenly, the conch horn blew, alerting for help. What was wrong? I started running towards where the horn was blown and I met Chiron along the way.

"Chiron, what's wrong?" I asked, worried,

He didn't know and we hurried over towards the edge of the forest.

In the clearing, beside two nymphs and a counselor, was Percy, lying gown on the ground. His face was green and slowly turning gray. And his hand… it had a huge red welt that was oozing and smoking with yellow guck. The sight made me queasy.

"What happened?" I asked, panicked. Percy seemed almost dead, though I knew he wasn't.

Chiron walked up to Percy and after a minute of observing, he emerged with his face grim. "Pit scorpion venom. He is lucky he's still alive. I will have to heal him. There is not enough time to get him back to the Big House just yet."

Right then and there, Chiron used his healing powers to heal Percy. Chiron had a look of concentration on his face and his eyes were hard, staring straight down at Percy. When he finished, Chiron sighed and dropped his hands. It must have taken a lot of power to heal him, because Chiron looked weary and pale after that.

Worried, I stepped closer, but Chiron waved me off and said, "Help bring him to the sickroom."

We carried Percy to the sickroom in the Big House and set him down on a bed. Typical. He had to get in trouble on the last day of the summer session.

I peered at Percy. He was looking better after Chiron healed him, but he was still very pale. What could have happened?

Percy stayed knocked out for hours. I stayed in the sickroom along with Argus and Chiron, worrying over Percy and feeding him nectar and ambrosia. He was slowly getting better.

Finally, around dusk when I was holding a glass of nectar up to Percy's mouth and dabbing a washcloth on my forehead, Percy stirred. Then his eyes opened, much to my relief. I felt a ton of stress immediately leave me.

When he saw me, he said, "Here we are again."

How could he be cracking jokes? "You idiot," I said, even though I was really glad he was alive. Percy needed shunning. "You were green and turning gray when we found you. If it weren't for Chiron's healing…"

"Now, now," Chiron said. "Percy's constitution deserves some of the credit. How are you feeling?" he asked Percy.

"Like my insides have been frozen, then microwaved," Percy said.

Weird.

"Apt, considering that was pit scorpion venom. Now you must tell me, if you can, exactly what happened," Chiron said.

So Percy told us. He seemed to be telling a lot of stories lately. He told us how he talked to Luke at the sword arena and how Luke showed him a new sword, Backbiter, made of celestial bronze and tempered steel, working on both mortals and immortals.

But shouldn't a hero never harm mortals unless absolutely necessary? I remembered Chiron telling me that. Chiron made sure to tell everyone that.

Luke convinced Percy to go with him down to the woods by showing Percy a six-pack of cokes.

_Boys._

Luke asked Percy if he missed being on a quest and Percy said he had. When Percy asked if Luke missed it, Luke grew dark as he always did when someone mentioned his quest. He crumpled up his Coke can and threw it into the creek.

_He littered! That doesn't sound like Luke at all. I have a bad feeling about this…_

Luke said he was leaving and snapped his fingers. A small fire burned a hole in the ground at Percy's feet, and a scorpion crawled out. Percy started to take out his sword for defense, but Luke told him how pit scorpions could jump up to fifteen feet. Their stingers can pierce right through your clothes. "You'll be dead in sixty seconds," Luke had said.

_Dead. Luke… he wanted Percy dead?_

"That's when it all made sense," Percy continued. "The prophecy. I never told you all of it. You shall go west, and face the god who has turned. That was Ares. _You shall find what was stolen, and see it safe returned. _That was the master bolt and helm of darkness. _You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend._ _And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end._ That was my mom. But the one who betrayed me? At first I thought that was Ares, but it was Luke."

_Luke… no… Luke… he wouldn't._

Percy glanced sideways at me, as if cautiously gauging my reaction, before continuing. He said how Luke told Percy about how the gods should have been overthrown thousands of years ago, but hung on thanks to us half-bloods. He said the only way to stop their Western civilization was to burn it to the ground and start over with something more honest.

Percy told Luke he was as crazy as Ares. Luke said Ares was a fool who never realized the true aster he was serving. By that time, the scorpion was crawling onto Percy's leg.

"I told him that he was serving Kronos, and Luke told me to be more careful with names," Percy said. "He said I should have listened to Kronos when he spoke to me in my dreams. I told Luke he was getting brainwashed by Kronos, but Luke said I was wrong. He said Kronos was showing him that his talents were being wasted. He started ranting about his quest. He said Kronos started to contact him in his dreams, telling him to steal something worthwhile. So on the winter solstice field trip to Olympus, while everyone else was asleep, Luke snuck into the throne room and took Zeus' master bolt and Hades' helm of darkness."

I was shocked. Luke… _Luke! _He was the one who stole the items? Who almost caused a huge war between the gods? How could he? What was he thinking?

Luke had then ran, but got caught by Ares. Ares disarmed Luke and took the items, threatening to return Luke to Olympus and burn him alive. Kronos' voice then came up to Luke in his head, telling Luke what to say. Luke told Ares the idea of hiding the items and watch the gods have a great war. Ares loved the idea and let Luke go, and Luke returned to Olympus before anyone could notice he was missing.

Luke had summoned the hellhound the night of capture the flag, needing to make Chiron think the camp wasn't safe and Hades was after Percy, so that Chiron would start Percy on the quest. The flying shoes that Luke had given Percy were cursed and were supposed to have dragged Percy into Tartarus, where Percy should have died.

Percy tried to convince Luke to snap out of it and not listen to Kronos, but Luke doesn't. He says that Percy only delayed Kronos' plans, and that Kronos will rice and cast the Olympians into Tartarus, driving humanity back to their caves. Luke refused to call of the scorpion. He slashed his sword in an arc and disappeared in a ripple of darkness.

I sat, stunned, as I tried to process the information. Luke… all the years I had known him, I hadn't though of Luke as a bad guy, a villain... He was the one (along with Thalia) who had taken me in when my family hadn't... accepted me for who I was...

That was when the scorpion had lunged and Percy. Percy tried swatting it away and he killed it, but not before the scorpion got to Percy's hand. Percy was getting lightheaded and tried going to the creek to heal his hand, but the water didn't seem to do anything. He stumbled towards the camp and with the help of the nymphs, made it into the clearing before he passed out.

I glanced, worried, at Percy. He seemed much better. _Luke did this…_ I thought. But how? Luke… I would have never believed Luke could be a bad guy. I flashed back to when I had first met him. He and Thalia had been so nice to me. And now…

"I can't believe that Luke…" I faltered. Suddenly, I remembered how Luke had acted when he got back from his quest. There were some times when he would get really angry. Whenever his father was mentioned, he face darkened. If this was the path he wanted… the one he chose… "Yes," I said, shaking my head. "Yes, I _can _believe it. May the gods curse him… He was never the same after his quest."

"This must be reported to Olympus," Chiron said. "I will go at once."

"Luke is out there right now!" Percy said. "I have to go after him!"

In his condition? Was Percy crazy? He was better, yes, but still weakened!

Chiron shook his head. "No, Percy. The gods-"

"Won't even _talk _about Kronos," Percy said. "Zeus declared the matter closed!"

"Percy, I know this is hard. But you must not rush out for vengeance. You aren't ready," Chiron said.

Percy went quiet. "Chiron…your prophecy from the Oracle…it was about Kronos, wasn't it? Was I in it? And Annabeth?"

I snapped into attention. Chiron glanced nervously at the ceiling and sky, as if on guard, looking to Zeus. "Percy, it isn't my place-"

"You've been ordered not to talk to me about it, haven't you?" Percy asked.

Chiron looked at Percy both sympathetically and sadly. "You will be a great hero, child. I will do my best to prepare you. But if I'm right about the path ahead of you…"

Apparently, even that was too much to say. Thunder boomed, making the windows rattle.

"All right!" Chiron shouted. "Fine!" He sighed in frustration before saying, "The gods have their reasons, Percy. Knowing too much of your future is never a good thing."

I suppose they were right. If I had known how Luke would have turned out, what would I have done? I would have tried convincing him not to side with Kronos, but would that just have made Luke angrier? But deep down in my heart, I hoped that I would get Luke to change his mind soon, and I was sure that I could if I ever got the chance.

"We can't just sit back and do nothing!" Percy argued.

"_We _will not sit back," Chiron said. "But _you _must be careful. Kronos wants you to come unraveled. He wants your life disrupted, your thoughts clouded with fear and anger. Do not give him what he wants. Train patiently. Your time will come."

"Assuming that I live that long."

Chiron put his hand on Percy's ankle. "You'll have to trust me, Percy. You will live. But first you must decide your path for the coming year. I cannot tell you the right choice… But you must decide whether to stay at Camp Half-Blood year-round or return to the mortal world for seventh grade and be a summer camper. Think on that. When I get back from Olympus, you must tell me your decision."

Percy looked like he was about to protest, but he didn't.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. Argus will watch over you," Chiron said. When Chiron turned towards me, I knew what was coming.

"Oh, and, my dear… whenever you're ready, they're here," Chiron said.

Styx. Already? I had hoped it would have taken them longer… though again, I didn't want the cleaning harpies to eat me….

"Who's here?" Percy asked.

I refused to answer and instead studied the ice in Percy's drink.

After Chiron left, Percy asked me, "What's wrong?"

I looked up from the ice. I had been wondering what it would be like to go home again, and I was now having second thoughts about it. Still, I wrote the letter, they were here, and there was no turning back.

"Nothing," I said, setting the glass on the table. "I…just took your advice about something. You…um…need anything?" I asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Yeah. Help me up. I want to go outside," Percy said.

"Percy, that isn't a good idea…"

But Percy stubbornly slid his legs out of the bed. He started to fall, but I caught him.

"I told you," I said.

"I'm fine," Percy insisted. He took a few more steps forward, leaning on me. We walked outside with Argus following.

Outside, it was dusk, the camp looking completely deserted. I looked around the camp and spotted my family next to Thalia's pine tree. I looked back at Percy, who was sweating and breathing deeply, just from walking outside. I felt bad I'd be leaving him like this.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, referring to whether or not Percy would stay at camp.

"I don't know," Percy confessed. "I get the feeling Chiron wants me to stay year-round to train me individually, but I'm not sure… if I actually want to stay year-round. Though I would feel bad about leaving you all alone with only Clarisse for company."

That was nice… I owed it to him to at least tell him I wasn't staying year-round. I didn't want Percy to stay at camp just to be my only friend there, and then find out I wasn't staying.

"I'm going home for the year, Percy," I said quietly.

Percy stared at me. "You mean, to your dad's?"

I pointed at my family. "I wrote him a letter when we got back," I said. "Just like you suggested. I told him… I was sorry. I'd come home for the school year if he still wanted me. He wrote back immediately. We decided… we'd give it another try."

"That took guts," Percy said.

I pursed my lips. "You won't try anything stupid during the school year, will you?" Like dousing someone with toilet water. "At least…not without sending me an Iris-message?"

Percy smiled. "I won't go looking for trouble. I usually don't have to."

I looked Percy over. He was still weak, but his heavy breathing had stopped. I suddenly felt mad at Luke for doing this to my friend. "When I get back next summer, we'll hunt down Luke," I said. "We'll ask for a quest, but if we don't get approval, we'll sneak off and do it anyway. Agreed?"

"Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."

I smiled and stuck out my hand. We shook on it.

"Take care, Seaweed Brain," I said. "Keep your eyes open."

"You too, Wise Girl."

Smiling, I walked slowly up the hill and towards my mom, dad, and stepbrothers.

"Annabeth!" My father called.

"Hi," I said awkwardly, giving my father a quick hug. I glanced nervously at my mother, but she didn't have a look of hate on her face at all…

"Are you ready to go?" My dad asked.

I turned around and looked back at the valley one last time. Then I looked at Thalia's pine tree. I reached out and touched it, thinking about Thalia. And Luke. And Percy. Luke… we had to do something about him. And Percy, I was just worried about him. I wished Thalia were alive and standing right next to me.

_Good-bye, Thalia…_

"Yeah, I'm ready," I said, removing my hand from the Thalia's tree and turning to face my family.

And I walked with my family, away from camp. My stepbrothers were chatting about how cool the boundary was and how they had tried to go past but had bounced back. They said it was a fun game. I decided not to freak them out by telling them if they tried too many times, they would disintegrate. My dad and stepmom, surprisingly pleasant, asked me about camp.

"Is it fun?"

I turned back one last time and looked back at Thalia's pine tree, fading into the distance.

"Oh, yeah. It's tons of fun."

When we finally got to the car, we all got in and drove off, towards the house and mortal world, and away from the camp. I felt a wave of sadness overcome me as the camp faded from view. The camp had been my home. And now, I was riding towards my other home in the mortal world for the first time in a long while.

This was going to be one interesting year.

* * *

***That was actually what I had thought many times when I realized what day it was. I mean, the days just seem to be passing way too quickly!**

* * *

**TA-DA! THE END! Sorry, that was such a bad ending... I am so not good at those...**

**The Lost Hero came out today! :-o I put it on hold in the library... I'm 170 something... Nice, right?**

**Anyway, I would like to thank EVERY SINGLE PERSON who reviewed, favorited this, or put this on story alert! You guys are soooooooooooooooooooo awesomely awesome! It means a lot to me! THANK YOU! _Now _you can an extra extra extra large bag of virtual popcorn and a virtual cupcake and a virtual ice cream cake! W00t!**

**It's actually the end! I feel so sad now! I'll try to get a hold of the second book! But for now, I'll sit back, relax, read some fanfics, and... I suppose I'll have to study for that killer 100 point social studies test... that's tomorrow... and I'm not prepared...**

**Bye! And thanks again for reading this story and sticking with me!**

**Hopefully I'll see you again for the sequel!**


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